Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent but if I did there would be a happy ending. Example: Uriah wakes up, Tris survives, Will is reincarnated and George and Amar can be together :) - you want to steal that idea? Please ask first so that I can read it :)
A/N: Okay, so I have lately started a weird obsession about Eric and my conclusion to how he became so cruel. Plus, he is kind of good looking in the movie, you know, if he took out a piecing or two and the tattoo on his neck. Okay, okay, Jai Courtney is good looking :) Anyway this is Eric and how he became cruel... because of a, you guessed it, a girl. And no, he isn't going to be a big softie, he's just going to be... less harsh. Have fun.
I know I have a lot of on-going stories, but on the bright side, this has a lot of pre-written chapters ;)
This was it. It was the day that I got to make the decision of where I was going to belong for the rest of my life.
I didn't get much sleep last night, I had been tossing and turning with thoughts racing through my head. Pros and cons of each faction if I was honest. Like a true Erudite, I believed that everything had its need to be sorted out and categorised, so that the best solution could be found...
...Not that I really wanted to be a Erudite anymore.
Still, as the morning progressed, so slowly that it seemed to defy all laws of time, I found myself repeating every pro and con in my head. Only another hour or so to go and I still didn't have my mind made up.
Amity. Pros: Annoy family and eat drugged bread that will make me a happy man for once in my life. Cons: They are annoying. They are also high constantly, whether they know it or not.
Candor. Pros: I could tell everyone what I thought of them. Cons: I'd have no secrets and everyone could openly spread their guaranteed dislike of me.
Erudite: Pros: I know the ins and outs of this place. Plus I would be obeying my aptitude test. My true self. Cons: I'd have to put up with the annoying big headed idiots and my parents for the rest of my life. No thank-you.
Abnegation: Pros: It would greatly anger everyone I ever knew. Abnegation are Erudite's enemies. Cons: I am not selfless and never will be.
Dauntless. Pros: It would be exciting, unusual, awesome, my dream come true. Cons: I'd have to be fearless or at least hide all my fears pretty well.
All were such limited choices.
"Morning son, today's the big day eh? You'll finally be a real part of Erudite." My father entered the kitchen and sat down across from me, picking up a slice of my uneaten toast. This was the closest that we've been in years and even this felt cold. My dad was still convinced that I was going to stay in Erudite, and I wasn't going to contradict him until my name was called. "Are you going to eat that?" He asked, directing the question towards my second, also untouched, slice of toast.
"I don't know, I might wait until the feast later." If the other factions even had a meal in the evenings.
"You know," he continued, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Ninety-two percent of the time someone doesn't eat on a big day is because they are nervous, statistically speaking of course." He leaned over at the table towards me. "And you don't have any reason to be nervous, do you?" He gazed at me unnervingly.
"No, I'm anxious to get this day finished with, father. To really belong in Erudite, not just born and raised here, but a real part." My words were cold and emotionless, just as an Erudite's voice should be. I gave him a tight smile. Well, Candor was out of the question.
"Morning you two, hope I'm not interrupting anything." My mother swept in through the kitchen. Her glasses slipping off her nose as she scanned a book of medical science. A book she wrote.
"No, I was just telling Eric here that he should eat his breakfast." My father informed her. Often I wondered what was wrong with Erudite, there never seemed to be any love here, in fact there never seemed to be any emotion at all. Yet another reason why I wanted to leave.
"You know, ninety two percent of the time when a person doesn't eat, it is down to anxiety and nerves." My mother said, without looking up once at me.
"That's what I told him." My father smiled at her, although I doubt she saw it. She was still flipping through her book.
"You know what they say, great minds think alike." My mother replied. "Eric, be a dear and wake Lucy up for me. She wanted to be up early so that she could come to the ceremony today in..."For the first time my mother tore herself away from the book and it wasn't to look at me, it was to look up at the clock to calculate the exact time that it was until the choosing ceremony. Something that she wouldn't do for her son and husband, but would do it to be correct in the time. "In fifty four minutes. Go on, you know how long it takes her to get ready." Her eyes had returned to her book and she still hadn't looked at me yet.
I left the kitchen wordlessly, heading to my sister's room.
"Lucy!" I called banging hard on the door. "Time to get up or you'll miss the ceremony!" There was no answer. God, that girl really could sleep through anything. "Lucy! Get up now!" I shouted and hit the door harder. I was surprised that it didn't break. Still no answer. I grabbed the door knob and opened the door. "Lucy! For the love of God will you g-" I was cut off when I looked around my sister's room.
It was perfectly neat and tidy, as it always had been, but it was the bed that caught my attention. It was empty.
"Close the door." I heard a raspy voice say behind me. I did as I was told and turned around to face my sister. Since when had she a sore throat? She had never had a sore throat in her life.
"Lucy, what's wrong?" I asked, looking up at her figure emerging from the shadows. And then I realised that she didn't have a sore throat, she had been crying. Her eyes were red and swollen. Her lips chapped. Her skin pale and sickly. She looked awful. "Have you been crying?"
"Don't ask silly rhetorical questions Eric." She sniffed, upset.
"Why have you been crying then?" I asked, using all my self-restraint not to snap at my baby sister. Yes, at thirteen years old, Lucy was my baby sister.
"Because you are going away." She turned her head a little bit, so that I couldn't see her fresh batch of tears.
"No I'm not." I protested.
"Yes you are, don't lie Eric. Candor could quite possibly be your new home." She snapped, turning back to me. "Or Amity, or Abnegation or Dauntless, but not Erudite." I didn't know what to say so I opted for the truth.
"You know I can't stay here. I don't belong here. I don't want to belong here." I whispered. "I can't pretend to belong here any longer."
"But won't you stay, stay for me?" She cried, hiding her face in her hands.
"I can't, I'm not cut out to be Erudite." It broke my heart to see her cry. Lucy, my one and only weak link. How could I leave my little sister alone in this horrible place?
"But you are intelligent! And you enjoy being smart! You said so yourself and you weren't lying!" She protested, sobbing harder.
"It's not the intelligence that is bothering me sis," I confessed. "It's the lack of emotion. Even anger and jealousy is better than this day in, day out emotionless void." I sighed, knowing I'd probably just hurt her more by calling her an emotionless, genius robot - even if it was indirectly.
"B-b-b-but," her voice wavered, her eyes getting teary again. I pulled her into a hug, enjoying the human contact even if it was a bit uncomfortable. It was likely that I wouldn't get any touch or hugs for a long time unless I joined Amity. The other factions weren't big on intimacy either. "I'll miss you!" She wailed into my shoulder, arms clinging around me, holding me close.
"Well," I said, knowing that time was running out if she wanted to come and I needed her to stop her emotional attachment to me. It was likely that after today that I would never see her again. Statistics say ninety nine percent. "You are going to have to get over it, like I have. Faction before blood." I said in a harsh tone. Not too harsh but enough to shock her back into reality. This was happening and there was nothing that she could do about it.
"Excuse me?" She took a step back.
"I said," taking a deep breath. "Get over it or don't come, simple as." It was difficult yet surprisingly natural to be so hard on my sister.
"Well then," she fumed. Her temper was as bad as mine. "Tell mother and father that I'm not coming. I wouldn't waste my time on a heartless pig like you!" She shouted and pushing me hard towards the door. "Get out! And never come back!" She turned her back towards me, but as I opened the door and prepared to leave, I heard her whisper. "Goodbye Dauntless soldier, I love you."
"I love you too Lucy." I whispered back. "Good luck in Candor."
I closed the door in agony and rested my forehead on the smooth, painted wood. What was I going to do?
"Eric? Lucy? It's time to go or we'll be late." I heard my mother's clipped tone call from the kitchen. I entered and looked at her, capturing her eyes that were framed by the thin, professional glasses that she didn't really need, in a stare that she couldn't look away from.
"Lucy's not coming." I answered. I tried to keep my voice emotionless but some feeling crept in.
"I'm sorry son." My father replied, his voice holding no affection or sympathy. "We don't have time to convince her, we have to go now or we'll be running late."
"Seventeen minutes." My mother added.
I felt like throwing something at them and ranting about how much I hated them and how glad I was that I had made the decision to leave, but I didn't, I just nodded and followed them outside.
I no longer had a decision to make. Lucy had made it for me. I was going to be a Dauntless soldier.
. . .
I sat on the seats in the Hub waiting for my name to be called so that I could just get the hell out of here. I watched as Marcus Eaton stood on the platform and called out everyone's name after making his long, exaggerated speech. I watched as they cut their palm and sprayed their blood into their chosen faction bowls. Grey stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, glass for Candor, earth for Amity and lit coals for Dauntless.
"Tobias Eaton!" The Abnegation leader, a.k.a Tobias' father called out, smiling at his son. The boy didn't smile back, instead he scowled. He picked up the knife and slit his hand without hesitating. I guess it would be an easy choice for him. Once a Stiff, always a Stiff. He held his hand over the Dauntless bowl. I gasped, what a change, this guy was going to be an initiate with me. I heard the Dauntless crowd go wild as Tobias joined them, while Marcus Eaton looks horrified. His son just grins at him from across the room. But he recovers quickly, I'll give him that.
"Err... Dauntless."
Not much longer after that did I hear my name being called. I looked at my parents but they didn't look back at me. They thought that they knew, oh, but for once in their lives, they were wrong.
I walked over to where the bowls were, picked up the newly cleaned knife and slid it slowly across my palm. It stung like hell but it was worth it to get out of here. Biting the inside of my cheek, an annoying habit, I pushed my palm straight out in front of me and over the hot coals. As I waited for my blood to drip, I looked up at my parents. Their faces were filled with exaggerated shock.
"Dauntless!" I heard Marcus Eaton call out and as I caught my mother's eye, I copied Tobias, I smiled.
A/N: I hope you all liked. Yes this is going to be continued, I actually have the majority of it written up already, thanks to organisation because it was really killing me to have to write a chapter for one story and then another, and another. So I pre-write a few chapters and post them up every week or so, ta daa!