Prologue - Two years prior

A STRIKING WHITE light blinds my eyes as I struggle to open them, forcing me to squint. I try to pry my eyes open, little by little, focusing first on the white ceiling, then on the walls surrounding me, then on the furniture surrounding me.

I'm in a sterile room, a thin, blue blanket draped over my thin legs and a drip stand with heart monitor next to my bed. I follow the tube from the drip stand until it suddenly disappears into my hand.
The heart monitor beeps steadily.

I try to lift my head off the pillow, trying to figure out where I am, but a searing pain spreads through my shoulder and I scream, falling back onto the pillow. A tear slips out of the corner of my eye and I grit my teeth together until the pain subsides. My head pounds in the bright light and I close my eyes in frustration.
My body shifts as I try to get into a met comfortable position, but the same searing pain that was in my shoulders spreads across my abdomen, forcing out more tears as another scream rips out of my throat.

The door at the end of the room opens and a few people rush in, all dressed in white lab coats. The heart monitor next to my bed speeds up in protest as everyone rushes around me, replacing the drip bag and writing on clipboards and throwing an infinite amount of questions at me. I cover my face with my hands and let out a yell of frustration as the chaos continues to surround me.

There is a sudden pinch in my arm, instantly making me flinch, and I look to my left where a man has stuck a needle in my arm. I try to pull away from him but my arm won't move, and soon enough I can't feel my feet, or my legs, or my abdomen, or my chest or my arms. My eyelids feel heavy as sleep clings to my skin, and I slowly slip into darkness,
again.

The second time I wake, I find the lights have been turned down to just a musky yellow glow. Everyone that was in the room has left and the only thing I can hear is the heart monitor- slow and steady once again. My head feels like it's glued to the pillow, and I struggle to sit up without any pain. I see a woman peep her head around the door and give me a warm smile.

"Hello." She greets me as she comes closer. I study her steps, slow and calm, as she paces towards me.
"Are you in pain?" She asks softly.
I shake my head slowly, but I'm unsure if I'm actually telling the truth.
"That's good."

She spreads out the blanket at my feet, smoothing out the crinkles with her fingertips.
"Where am I?" I ask, my voice croaky and raspy.
I barely sound like myself.
"You're in the infirmary, in the Bureau of genetic welfare." She responds.
All of these words sound foreign to me- except infirmary.
"Do you remember what happened?"
My gaze falls on the wall in front of me and stays fixed on the same spot.
How did I get into the infirmary?

The space inside my head becomes a battlefield as I fight to remember how I got here. My mind stays blank.
I shake my head, furrowing my brows as I concentrate hard.
"No." I confirm.
"That's okay. It's usually a side effect of a medically induced coma. You should remember in a few hours max. Okay?"

I nod, not quite sure how to react to her statement.
I was in a coma? How long was I out?
"Give me a sign if you need me. I'll be in the room just opposite." She bows her head and leaves quietly. Her selfless behaviour reminds me of something, but I can't quite decipher what.

I put together everything she's said:
Coma, infirmary, Bureau of Genetic Welfare.
Why does nothing ring a bell?
Why am I even in here?

I can see the nurse through the thin, glass panel in the door. She appears to be talking to someone, but I can't quite see who it is. She walks away, heading into the opposite room as promised.

A man in a silver wheelchair wheels himself though my door without hesitation.
His features are odd- a long nose with brown eyes and white hair. I'm sure I've seen him before.
He gives me a smile as he sees me and I automatically frown at him.
"Hello, Tris." He says, his voice deep and cold. I'm guessing he must be referring to me- Tris.
At least I know my own name.
He looks like he's waiting for me to talk, but I don't- party because I don't know what to say.
"So it's true. You really don't remember." He adds, letting out a small huff.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I reply in a strained voice.
"Ah, right." He says, like he just figured something out.
"So you don't remember what happened before you got here?" He quirks his brow.
"No." I answer firmly and quickly.
He narrows his eyes at me and I look at him confused.
What does he want?

"Well, in that case," he starts to say, wheeling his chair closer to my bed, "I'm David, the leader of the Bureau."

I feel a sharp pain in my head as I watch him extend his hand out for me to shake, and I squint my eyes, pressing my fingertips to my temples to stop the throbbing.
David. David. David.

I try to think of where I've come across such a familiar name as the pain in my head intensifies.
David.
"David.." I test out the syllables on my tongue.

So familiar.

David grins in his chair and drops his hand to watch me. I frown at him again, wondering my he's looking at me like that.

I close my eyes and see a deep shade of blue- so blue it could swallow me whole.
I see this colour in someone's eyes- someone with a hooked nose, a full bottom lip and dark brown locks.

He turns and looks at me, his eyes mesmerising.
I watch his lips form a smile.
"I'll see you soon." He says. I watch his hands drop mine as he turns and walks away.
"Tobias." I breathe, the name slipping off my tongue so naturally.
I open my eyes again, looking immediately at David's face. I picture the same face as I go into the weapons lab. He sits in the same wheelchair- a gun pointed at me.
"I didn't come here to steal anything." I hear myself say.
A gun goes off. The pain in my head stops.

"David." I almost growl.
"Ah, so you do remember." He smiles, and I want to punch it right off his face.
"Where's Tobias." I say coldly.
"Well, a year is an awfully long time to wait for someone. He went back to Chicago." He rolls his eyes.
A year? It's been a year?

He must see my eyes widen because he confirms it for me.
"Yes, a year. Your friends went back to Chicago a few months after you died."
I cringe at the word.
"Died?" I raise my brow.
"Your wounds were severe and you lost almost 10% of total blood mass in your body. Luckily for you, you still managed to hold on just long enough for us to take you to the intensive care unit."
Luckily.
He acts like I was the one who asked to be shot.
I try to picture David with a sullen look on his face as he tells the others what happened to me.
It's almost impossible to imagine, and suddenly it seems like he did the obvious thing.

"You faked it." I state bluntly. "You faked my death to them."
"I did what had to be done." He replies casually.
Tears well up in my eyes and I blink them away quickly before he can see them.
I picture Tobias' face, streamed with tears, and a guilty feeling sets in my stomach- making me want to throw up.

I told him I wouldn't leave him.

"You're not human." I mutter, a bitter taste in my mouth. I remember the gun going off as I lunged towards the device; a second time as I typed in the code; a third time as I released the serum.
"How did you escape the serum?" I spit.
"The same way you did."
"That's not possible. Only Matthew had..."
Oh.
"You think Matthew is the only one who knows how to make an antidote?" He smirks.

"What do you want." I say bitterly, falling back onto the pillow as tiredness creeps up on me again. This conversation is exhausting.
"I want to welcome you to your new home." He smiles, like he's proud of himself.
I almost laugh.
"You can't keep me here."
"And who says I can't?" He grins widely, rolling his wheelchair towards the window. "You destroyed everything. Chicago could've rebuilt itself the easy way." He grits his teeth together. He reminds me of a wild animal- savage, and hungry for its prey.
"Do you know you are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people?"
I raise my brow at him.
"I wasn't aware I went on a shooting rampage during my coma." I roll my eyes.
"Really? Who do you think erased the memories of everyone at the Bureau? Hm?"
I stay silent.

He's right. I took away people's lives and they don't even know it.
I can't even imagine how hard it is to forget the ones you love, or even to live a fake life built on David's lies.
We tried to stop the Bureau from erasing the memories of our city, but we did the exact same thing here.

"I thought so. Do you even know how many months of teaching it took to bring back my specialist team up to date? Or how to teach my scientists to make serums again? Or the nurses to heal you?"
I press my lips together into a thin line.
"If you think you're the holy angel now, you're wrong." I mutter. "You were about to take the lives of hundreds of people." I say, mocking him. He scowls at me.
"Mock me am you like, Tris. This destruction is unforgivable, and it will have its consequences."
"What are you gonna do? Kill me?" I laugh bitterly. "You couldn't even manage that last time." I roll my eyes with a grin. He lets out a low growl and inches towards me.
"Watch it, Tris. Sometimes being alive can be worse than death.." he starts to wheel himself towards the door, "..especially when you have to watch a city tear itself apart." He smirks.

I frown at him, my throat becoming tight.
"What do you intend to do?"
"That, my dear, is none of your business. But trust me, it won't be nice."
"Wait!" I say, just as he opens the door to leave.

"Just..don't do anything to Chicago."
He wheels himself back in, a curious look on his face.
"What makes you think you're in a position to negotiate?" He quirks his eyebrow.
"I won't leave." I say quietly.

Even though I have been gone for almost a year, I don't fail to remember that I'm a valuable asset to the bureau: a pure subject. He needs me- and he can't use me if I'm not here. He must know it's impossible to keep me here.

It's an offer that is already decided.
He grins.
"I'm glad we're both on the same page. Welcome to the Bureau, Tris."
He wheels himself out, closing the door behind him and leaving me with a heavy feeling in my chest.
I chew on the inside of my cheek.

I hope I made the right decision.

-.-.-

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