One Drop

[tamaracorine]

The day of the Choosing Ceremony was like Christmas to Annabelle. She had known from a young age what she would choose. Amity felt wrong for her. She craved danger, she wanted her heart to race with the thrill of adventure, she desired cake and laughter and anything but that damn farm. Anything but the farm and the false smiles.


She chose easily. She chose Dauntless. The rush of black clothing clad arms embracing her felt like homecoming at last. One boy chose Dauntless without meaning to. The blood had dropped too soon and his choice was sealed. Annabelle watched it in amazement, wondering if he would even survive the train trip. Stories had been told of initiates in the past, stories of those who seemed weak being strong. She hoped to be one of the strong. Her brown hair and green eyes and petite form made her seem completely harmless, she hoped to be a shock to all.


They made the jump onto the train. Annabelle sat breathless on the floor of the carriage, grinning to herself as the train hurtled through the city. She sat alone, relishing these seconds that made her feel so alive.

 

[Lioness075]

Shade couldn't believe what had happened today. Today was supposed to be his big day, a day of celebration. But now, he felt like crawling into a corner and hiding his face in shame. He'd accidentally dropped his blood into the Dauntless bowl and his fate had been sealed. What dumb luck that he'd managed to do such an idiotic thing. The awkward silence after his mistake hadn't helped at all either....


It wasn't long after that he'd been required to make the train jump. His heart had raced faster than ever before and he'd only just made the jump, with the aid of a few other kids who pulled him the rest of the way onto the train. He sat at the entrance of the train, panting, and wished he could restart today. While he was of athletic physique, Shade's hazel eyes gave away his fear and he ran his hand through his slightly spiked, dirty blonde hair as he wondered what the heck he was going to do now.

 

[tamaracorine]

Annabelle glanced over at the boy. He was the one who had accidentally chosen. She couldn't imagine how he would feel. She slid across the floor slightly and looked at him. "Hey. I'm Anna." she told him, offering her hand. "And you, are Shade. Impressive jump, for someone who never expected to have to make the jump." she smirked, a friendly smirk rather than a vindictive one.

 

[Lioness075]

Shade glanced up to see the female who'd chosen Dauntless before him. His face was slightly flushed, though from the jump or the fact that such a pretty girl was talking to him, Shade wasn't sure. Shaking his head slightly to clear the thoughts from his mind, Shade met Anna's eyes and replied with a curt, "Thanks...I guess."

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna watched the Dauntless building approach. "Come on." she stood up, pushing some hair from her face and grinning. "I think it's time to jump again. Seems like your choice is full of leaps of faith today." she leaned against the door, her posture tall and confident. This was where she felt she belonged. She leaned out slightly, admiring the city behind them. "Don't be the last one again, dude."

 

[Lioness075]

Shade gave Anna a look of disdain at being the last one the first time. 'Give me a break, I only just learned today that Dauntless was going to be my faction,' he thought to himself as he stood up to join Anna's side. He peered out of the train and watched as the city flew by, amazed by the speed that the train was traveling at. He heard cheering up ahead and leaned out of the train slightly, with one of his hands holding the roof, to see that people were jumping out of the train and onto the roof up ahead. His heart began racing again as the anticipation of the jump reached his mind and sent a course of adrenaline throughout his body.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna took hold of his hand, a gesture of friendship. "On three, Shade." she told him firmly, squeezing the hand. "One," she leaned out farther. "Two..." she let go of the side of the door, grinning. "Three!" she leapt from the train, pulling him with her. She landed clumsily, tumbling to the ground and letting go of his hand.


"Hurry it up." a Dauntless called from the edge of the rooftop. "Things to do. Don't make me wait!" he barked at them firmly. Anna pushed herself to her feet and walked towards the wall. "One more jump. Who's first, kids?" he grinned.

 

[Lioness075]

Shade let out a hiss of frustration and then gasped as the air left him when he landed awkwardly on the roof. As Anna stood up and left him, Shade slowly got to his feet, frowning at the newly formed bruises on his knees and elbow. 'I'm having so much fun already....' he sarcastically thought to himself as he joined the group of Dauntless at what appeared to be a hole in the roof beyond a small wall. Hearing that there was yet another jump, Shade edged to the back of the group, not feeling eager whatsoever to jump yet again. He'd had his fair share today, thank you very much.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna went first. Of course, she went first. Her orange Amity clothing fluttered around her as she stood on the ledge. She didn't hesitate. This was Dauntless, and she would become dauntless. She stepped off the ledge a second after arriving on it, letting out a yelp of joy as she twisted through the air and landed on the net below. She was helped off by another Dauntless, and congratulated for being first. This would be her life. This, would be her home. She knew it had to be.

 

[Lioness075]

Right after Anna jumped, the Dauntless seemed to part ways as they tried to locate Shade, who had been the only other Erudite this time around. Inwardly sighing to himself, Shade took a step forward and soon was being shoved forward by several Dauntless members. He could hear laughter in the group as Shade soon arrived at the low wall before the jump. His heart was racing and he felt the strongest urge to just turn away and leave right now. Yet, mistake or not, his fate had been sealed and it was time to make a choice for himself.


Shade climbed onto the low wall, his single blue cloth that was tied around his forehead wavered in the wind, and then he closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest before taking a step forward into what felt to him like oblivion. His ears rang with the rush of wind as he plummeted into the net below. His body bound a few times before settling and he uncrossed his arms before slowly opening his eyes. He stared above with a look of shock at how far he'd just fallen. He was then yanked out from the netting by a Dauntless member who congratulated him, but warned him to exit the netting a bit faster next time.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna was already talking to one of the Dauntless members, but fell silent once everyone had jumped. There were five initiates from outside Dauntless. Two Abnegation, herself and another from Amity, along with Shade. The five were clumped together by the initiated Dauntless as the man who had commanded them to jump stood before them.


"You'll train in these groups. You five will likely not make it through initiation. It's my experience that you're weak and incapable. You'll be training with me. I'll find out exactly how weak you are. Let's move." he told them, leading them through the dark corridors. He took them into a room full of simple beds, with uniforms at the end of each bed. "You'll sleep here. Got it? Get changed. Burn that junk you've got on."

 

[Lioness075]

Shade followed along, not enjoying having been called weak. Just because his original faction had favored intelligence did not mean that he was weak, physically or mentally. His faction had trained him to be mentally strong and Shade had then trained himself to be physically strong. Not that he had ever planned to join Dauntless in the first place, but being in shape made him feel that much healthier. After being told to burn what he was currently wearing, Shade's first thought was, 'With what fire?' He looked around and then saw that there was a fireplace centered in the room with a fire already going in it.


Inwardly sighing at the situation Shade was stuck in, he went to the bed farthest away from everyone and grabbed his new uniform. He then realized that there wasn't much of any privacy in here, if at all. He looked around awkwardly as he didn't want to change in front of any females.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna changed out of her dress, pulling the tight Dauntless pants on, then a fitted black singlet. Modesty wasn't an issue anymore. She grinned to herself, tossing the orange dress into the fire. "Deal with it, Shade.. We won't stare, promise." she told him as she watched the dress burn. "Fire's too much fun to stare at for looking at you to be any fun."


"What she said." The only other girl chuckled. "I'm Lucy."

 

[Lioness075]

Shade felt his face burning with embarrassment as he turned away from the girls and quickly changed his clothing. He then approached the fire with his old clothing and tossed it into the flames. Watching his clothes burn away, Shade almost felt like his memories were burning with it. Shaking his head to clear the idle thoughts, Shade looked at the small group to see the other two males, who were both from Abnegation, teasing one another as they dressed and then added their clothing to the flames. Shade then did a double take as he realized the two males were twins, something he hadn't expected at all.


The twins both stopped teasing one another just long enough to introduce one another. The one on the left grinned as he said, "Hey guys, my name's Manjano." The other one matched his twin's grin before promptly adding, "And my name's Chiro (Pronounced like Cairo)." They then both exchanged a look before saying in unison, "It's a pleasure to meet each of you." Shade shook his head in amazement that twins had chosen the same faction together. Typically, twins would separate to go their own ways, but that certainly didn't seem to be the case with these two.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna raised an eyebrow at the way they spoke in unison. "You too." she told them, tugging her combat boots onto her feet. She looked around the group, "Want to go explore before they start torturing us?" she asked, "I for one want to celebrate being here. Heck, maybe I'll shave my head." she laughed.


"Just one side." Lucy added. "It'd look great." she told her. "As for you, Shade, you need... you need some metal in your face. Lip, maybe?"

 

[Lioness075]

Shade guffawed at such an idea and instantly answered, "No thank you. I'm content with how I look now." Exactly what kind of group had Shade accidentally joined in? The twins in turn both looked at each other, literally using one another as a mirror, and started bouncing back and forth between one another as they threw out ideas. "Perhaps, we could shave a design in our hair?" "What if we each got a lip ring, but on different sides?" "Ohh, what if we each got one ear pierced, but they're the opposite sides?" Then after a short pause, both of their pairs of eyes lit up as they exclaimed, "Let's get a tattoo!"

 

[tamaracorine]

"Let's go!" Lucy and Anna each took hold of one of Shade's hands, dragging him from the room. "Come on, we wont force you into anything you dont want to do." Anna coaxed as they walked. The halls were dark, and their footsteps echoed as they followed the sound of people to the pit. The pit was huge, with various places littered around the edge of it. Hair and tattoo and piercing places.


Lucy let go of Shade's hand and ran to the tattoo parlour first, but Anna stayed with Shade. "Come on, come with me to get my hair done. No pressure for to you to anything. Amity's honour." she promised, holding one hand up.

 

[Lioness075]

Shade rolled his eyes at Anna, but nodded to show that he'd at least tag along with her. The twins jogged past the pair as they headed straight for the tattoo parlor, their faces full of glee. Shade looked at the various stations, his mind confused as to why someone would want to mutilate their body for show, or appearance. Getting a quick glance at the tattoo parlor, Shade figured if he ever decided to change his body at all, he'd probably just get a tattoo. Alas, he had no reason to get one now.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna sat down in the chair, explaining to the man there what she wanted. He was friendly, but not exactly warm, and shaved one side of her head, leaving the other with thick hair on it. Anna watched her hair fall to the ground, and then slid off the chair. She thanked the man and left the room with Shade. "So... do you want to come check out the training rooms with me? Have a look what we're in for tomorrow?"

 

[Lioness075]

Shade eyed Anna's newly shaved head and then looked away in disgust. Why anyone would want to shave off their nice hair like that, he'd never know. Hearing about the training rooms, Shade shrugged and said, "I don't care." The day was nearly over already so it really didn't matter to Shade if they saw their training areas now or tomorrow.


The twins could be heard going back and forth on their tattoo ideas, which only caused Shade to roll his eyes in slight amusement. Something told him that those twins were going to be great friends down the road. Their easygoing attitudes and laughter meant that they wouldn't break down at the first hardship they encountered.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna leaned against a wall, looking at Shade with a raised eyebrow for a moment, but she quickly took a deep breath and her expression shifted to a sincere one. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you don't want to be here and you ended up here." she told him quietly. "But you want to get through this initiation. Because the alternative is being factionless, if the rumours are true. No one wants to be that.."

 

[Lioness075]

Shade crossed his arms over his chest and sighed, knowing that Anna was right. He looked around at the vendors once more before looking back at Anna and saying, "So, about the training areas...?" He was kind of curious now as to what they were like and what kind of training they'd be doing exactly.

 

[tamaracorine]

"Thank you." she smiled softly at him. She walked through a back entrance, entirely guessing at the location of the training area. They arrived a few minutes later in what looked like a large cave. Chains hung from the roof, with punching bags attached to them in a line along the middle. Mats were secured just to the side of those, blood staining each of the mats. Weights sat in their racks in another corner, and a far wall had a knife throwing practice range. "Huh..." Anna mumbled, "This is... intense."

 

[Lioness075]

Shade's eyes widened slightly at the setting, though he quickly regained his composure. He was now practicing on keeping a relaxed and blank composure so he wouldn't be picked on so much for his fears of this faction. If he could play the act of someone who belonged here, then perhaps he would slowly begin to actually fill that role. He refused to be faction-less and was now determined to prove his worth. Walking over to the knife throwing practice range, Shade picked up one of the blades, sighting the smallest blood stain on the blade. He quickly put it back down as his heart raced at the idea of just how that blood got there.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna watched Shade's expression move from fear, to calm, to fear again. She approached a weight and tried to pick it up, laughing slightly as she could barely get it off the ground. "I clearly have some work to do..." she looked over at Shade. "You look strong. What's the heaviest one you can pick up?" she asked, tilting her head curiously.