[IC] Rebels of the Factionless

[ChaoticFox]

Juno Wolfe

---

“Miss Wolfe, please take a seat. This will only take a moment.”

The Abnegation woman’s voice echoed through her head and her heart pounded in her chest. Juno had never been so nervous in her life, but nor had she been so excited. Tomorrow, she would break free from the chains of her faction, Candor, and start a new life in the faction that she had dreamed of being in since she’d been a child. Dauntless. Juno despised the lifeless, truth telling ways of the Candor and she was sure that she would fail the initiation test if she stayed.

“Miss Wolfe?”

Juno shook her head and came back to reality, looking over to the Abnegation woman. She nodded and Juno took a seat in the examination chair, the cold surface sending shivers up her spine and down her legs. She pressed her hands against her sides, pulling her white long sleeved shirt down over top of her pants. She looked over to the woman and took the small vial of liquid cautiously, looking at it with a morbid curiosity. It felt so heavy, the liquid that would determine her future held in her hands. It entertained her mind that so much relied on such a small amount of serum, that this liquid would determine the futures of all the people that waited just beyond the door.

“Drink child…”

Juno’s eyes darted to the woman, then back to the vial. With a shaky breath, she brought the vial to her lips and tilted it back, swallowing the liquid in one gulp before setting the vial aside. She closed her eyes, waiting for a hint, a clue of any change. Something to tell her the test had begun.

Her eyes shot open as if she had no control of them and she looked around. The same room. The same mirrors. The same-- wait. Where had the woman gone, the one that sat beside her and had given her the serum? There was nothing. Not a trace.

Juno’s heart skipped a bit when she heard a voice “Make your decision.” Juno whipped around to face a figure that looked identical to herself. Not a reflection, it spoke, repeating those same three words. She looked down to her feet, where a knife and a slab of meat laid, having seemingly appeared from nowhere. Juno quickly grabbed the knife and looked up, finding herself face to face with an unknown figure pointing a gun at her head. Her reaction was instant, dropping down to one knee and lunging forward to stab the figure. She looked up and expected to find a body, but there was only air. Even the knife had disappeared.

In front of her and just out of reach, the man stood with the gun pointed at her mother’s head. Juno’s heart dropped at the sight, but she quickly calmed herself and looked to the figure. “Shoot me instead. Leave her and shoot me.” she closed her eyes and waited, standing in silence.

Juno’s eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright in the examination chair. She looked back and forth, seeing that the woman had reappeared and that she was back in the real world. The woman looked at her with uncertainty in her eyes. Juno looked back, her mind racing “What were my results?”

“Inco--” The woman paused “Abnegation. Your results were Abnegation.”

[Zhaliora]

Angie strode confidently towards the queue of eager yet nervous youths belonging to her faction. All of them were wearing some, and a lot of blue as their attire. The rules said that at least one piece of clothing had to be blue. For herself, that was her blue jeans.

She had been called out on that before, but she had recited the law from memory and shut them up. She was never breaking any rules, since she knew them all. It was something that irked a lot of her same aged faction members and peers alike.

With the tongue of a Candor, attitude of a Dauntless with the mind of an Erudite she had created a fair bit of enemies in her young life. She was the mixture of genius and trouble child, using her intelligence to learn more, to question more.

Her research and free-thinking had lead her to question the faction system, yet, here she was, taking her test. She was not sure if she was fearing the results, knowing where she belonged in the system, or if she was fearing the system more.

Eventually it became her turn to do the test and she strode in with a sure smile on her lips. She was greeted by a man in simple clothes, Abnegation no doubt. It was the common practice after all. Angie had always wondered if they acted selfless out of self satisfaction. Because it felt good to help others.

"Sit in the chair and relax," the man said and Angie did as told. "All right. Drink the liquid and then we'll get started."

Angie looked at the glass in the man's hand. It didn't look the most inviting of fluids, but oh well. She shrugged her shoulder and took the glass from the man's outstretched hand and downed it in one go.

"Lie down against the headrest and try to relax," he said and smiled and Angie followed.

The next moment she was in what seemed like a room full of mirrors. One called out to her. "Choose,"it said and a knife and a steak was presented to her. Angie did not hesitate and reached out for both as a dog started charging at her. She stood tall and waited for it to come. The dog stopped just in front of her. It looked from one of her hands to the other before sitting down and whined like a puppy.

Angie heard a voice behind her and the dog growled and charged at a young girl. She looked down and saw that both the knife and steak were gone. "Shit..." she started running after the dog. She removed a piece of her buckle and threw it at the dog.

It stopped and turned towards her and resumed it's charge, but this time towards Angie. She stood her ground and punched at the dog as it vanished into thin air and she found herself on a bus. The man showed her a picture and asked if she knew him. She could feel that she knew the man in the photo, but that something bad would happen if she admitted to it.

Angie shook her head. The man spoke up again. "He is a criminal, he burnt my face." Angie still shook her head. "He is the reason that the world is burned." That caught Angie by surprise.

"How do you know? Why do you know? How did it happen?" Question after question flowed out of her mouth and the man recoiled and seemed to grow angry and lashed out at her. Surprised Angie threw a punch towards him but missed and when his fist connected with her head she woke up.

"Ehhh......" the Abnegation man said and scratched his chin. "You're Erudite," he said with a puzzled look and hesitant voice.

[Anima]

Laurissa Holmes

---

Today was the day. Laurissa walked with the confidence of a Dauntless. To everyone who saw her, there was little doubt to which faction she grew up and where she belonged. Dauntless. However, it was what resided within that told a different story. While her Dauntless comrades always faced problems without fear and direct, Laurissa always saw a different way to do things. Things that required intelligence that belonged to Erudite rather than Dauntless. Mercy when the clear Dauntless choice was death. It wasn't something she advertised, but it was how she thought nevertheless.

Ignoring the banter that was going on all around her, Laurissa leaned against the wall of the testing hall. Whatever she thought she was or quirks she possessed, Laurissa knew where she belonged. Dauntless. Faction above blood though her blood was Dauntless. She fought, learned, and strove to exemplify the very virtues that the protectors of the city possessed.

She excelled at the obstacles courses, the agility tests, the strategy tests, and various other rituals Dauntless dolled out to its children. However, no matter how much she tried, strength was where she lacked. The others teased her for it, but her standings amongst the Dauntless youth was enough to shut them up. There was more to warfare than brute strength.

"Holmes. Laurissa."

Laurissa looked up. Her eyes trained on the Dauntless woman that was presumably conducting the initiation tests. Moving from her spot on the wall, she followed the woman into a room where a chair rested. Her heart began to pound against her chest. It was just an initiation test. Why was she so uneasy? Just another obstacle she needed to overcome.

"Sit down. Breathe deep. Relax," said the woman as Laurissa complied. "When you're ready," the woman held a cup in her hand, "take this and drink it. All of it. No hesitation."

Eyeing the liquid, the lessons on poisons and truth serums were dragged forth from Laurissa's memories. It was instinct that told her not to drink it and ask the woman to take a sip first. Said instinct was reined in when Laurissa remembered she was doing the initiation ceremony. Dauntless wouldn't test her before the test would they?

Taking the cup, Laurissa downed it and sat back. She closed her eyes. When she opened them, Laurissa found herself in the same room. The difference was the mirrors. Getting up from the chair, she scanned her surroundings and found her reflection staring back at her. Mirroring all of her actions, Laurissa was about to move around and inspect the mirrors until she heard her reflection speak. "Choose."

Finding a steak and a knife resting on plates before her, Laurissa picked up the knife and assumed a ready stance. Standing before her was a man. The look in his eyes were feral as his hand was outstretched to Laurissa.

"Murderers! You've left us to die! You've left us to die!" screamed the man as he charged towards Laurissa. The killing intent clear. "You facists! Factionless have rights! We don't deserve to starve! To be treated like sub-humans!"

Scoffing, Laurissa grabbed the man's arm and used his momentum to flip him down hard onto the ground. Right as she brought her knife to his neck, the man disappeared. Disoriented, she got back into the ready stance.

Then she saw a woman holding a thin child in her arms. Laurissa's eyes softened at the sight. Her heart pained her as the woman took a step back as Laurissa walked towards her. Her eyes were drawn to the loaf of bread in her arms. "Please ... there's no food for us. I ... my child. She hasn't eaten. She hasn't eaten ...! Surely you can spare this? Just this? Please!"

Lowering her knife, Laurissa took another step forward. The woman with the child didn't move. "To allow an exception would allow others to follow your example. For a machine to function, broken parts must be replaced."

"It's just bread! Have you ever felt hunger? Have you ever felt the fear of your child screaming because it's hungry...?! You're faction. How could you?"

Biting her lip, Laurissa was about to speak until she saw a masked figure appear with a rifle. "Criminal spotted! Terminating!"

Before the man could shot the woman and her child, Laurissa through her knife at him before he could fire. Seeing it bite deep into his skin, she turned back to the woman. "Run!"

Laurissa inhaled deeply. She moved to struggle out of the chair as she felt a firm force push her back down. "Relax. It's over."

It was the initiation proctor. She took a steadying breath. "Well?"

The woman stared at the screen. She pursed her lips. "...Dauntless. Right. Congrats."