while the candle still burns // PAYTON

They grabbed her out of her bed in the morning: two of the brutish guards that Payton had known since her childhood. Only this time, there was no laughing at a mutually shared joke that one of them had told in the hallway. There were no smiles. No laughter. It seemed all a bit serious. No words were exchanged except for the constant, ‘Keep moving, Initiate.’ Of all the things people had told her about Dauntless initiation, never once had something like this come up. They kept telling her to be quiet and it annoyed her even further. As they were leaving the initiate quarters, the men put their hands on either sides of her arms, practically dragging her down the hallway, “Hey! What’re you doing! Get off-” She growled, struggling against their rough handles. She was going to have bruises....just another injury to add to the ever growing list. It seemed like all she was getting out of this stupid initiation was bruises.

She was still in her pajamas, bare feet padding against the stone floor of the Dauntless compound as she half-walked half-dragged herself wherever the men took her. Down a right hallway - another left. Two rights. She knew where they were headed. The small rooms that were off the back of the compound. Dirty and dingy were the first words that came to mind. They were headed right for a door that was ajar and she knew what was coming next.

“What is this, some kind of joke?” Payton asked as she was thrust into the room by the strong-armed gentlemen. She managed to trip over her pajama bottoms and crashed into the floor. Turning on her knees, she looked at her assailants from the ground. They stood there, as if they were guarding the exit, not even bothering to lock her inside. She wouldn’t be able to push through both of them standing there. The dark haired girl was tempted to growl at them trying to frighten them, but it wouldn’t make a difference. Their body masses were practically immovable by someone as small as she was. It was a simple matter of physics that she had been taught at school. She was too small and didn’t have the proper leverage. Turning away from them, she spied the man out of the corner of her eye. He was nothing special - suited up in the typical white and black of a Candorian.

This had probably been orchestrated by Beckett. She could only imagine what she had done to land herself in a room with someone from Candor. She rolled her eyes at the thought before turning on her knees to look up at the other person in the room. At this point she was given full access to make her first impression. He couldn’t be much older than she was...perhaps a couple of years. He had on a loose tie and he had throw his bag onto the table. She cocked her head slightly to the side - she might not be able to take the brutes at the door, but physics told her that with the right momentum, she might be able to take down her partner. Maybe that was what this was about...a cage match. Her against an animal. Maybe he wasn’t even an Candor...could’ve been a Dauntless who worked as a fence guard for all she knew. She didn’t keep tabs on the entire faction. A few seconds of her blatantly staring passed before she scrambled back to her feet and looked him up and down, “Alright.” She walked forward and put her hands on the top of one of the chairs in the room, “You going to explain what’s going on?”

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tag; Elijah N. Montgomery

notes; incredibly excited <3 hope this post is alright!