AUTHOR'S NOTE—This is AU, Divergent only fanfiction, based on the movie. I know that Eric and Four were in the same year so to speak, however in this fic Eric was a few classes ahead of Four, and trained him. This is a SLASH Eric/Four.
DISCLAIMER-I own nothing, it's all Veronica Roth.
He was the face of Dauntless, strong, brave, and fearless. It was better to be feared than loved in this faction, because with love comes pain. He knew that well, his first love had betrayed him, had broken him down until he was nothing but terrified of the man; only when he was scared of him did he find the courage to fight back. He was never the same after that, Dauntless leaders were pleased with his transformation; he went from being weak and meek to strong and ruthless over a matter of weeks. He had never went back, he couldn't. Everyone asked for his secret, what had changed but he couldn't tell them, he'd never share it with anyone. No one would believe him anyway.
He looked over the new transfer initiates and wondered if any one of them would be as transformed as he had been. His eyes fell on the stiff, she was the weakest and she'd either transform quickly or die. He was betting on her to be what he became. He let Four take control, he would observe the first day, he liked to get a feel for the initiates before putting them under pressure and stress; he liked to find their weakness and exploit it until they break; exactly what was done to him. He wandered slowly around the training room, a cat on the prowl, his eyes caught everything, every little hit, flinch and cry. He felt Four's eyes on him, he turned back raising an eyebrow as Four made his way over.
"These are the weakest ones we've had in a while. Think any of them will last?" Four looked over the room, shifting from fight to fight, disappointment on his face.
"They're all like this when they enter Dauntless, even you." He let a small smirk cross his face as Four turned back to him about to protest, "You couldn't even punch correctly. No one thought you'd last." He remembered Four's initiation process well, he was last in the red, timid, jumpy, angry and defiant. He was reckless and wild; everything Dauntless frowned upon. He was small and befriended no one, he didn't trust. He'd known Four wouldn't make it if someone didn't step in, he had never taken a personal interest in anyone's training but he saw himself in Four and he spent his extra time training and teaching him.
"I'm still here." Four said quietly, it was as close as a nod of thanks as he would get from Four. "I never understood why you did it. You could have let me sink."
He was silent, how was he supposed to answer that? He didn't have to explain himself to the younger man at all, "I could've but I didn't. There's a reason one doesn't look a gift horse in its mouth." He said coolly before turning away and leaving the room.
His heart was beating hard as he left the training room, he wandered the corridors aimlessly trying to get a hold of himself. Four was the only person that could leave him feeling unbalanced, he had always cut to the heart of the matter, and Eric had no idea what to tell him that wouldn't compromise everything he spent so long building. If he was to be honest with Four, who would he be then? There was no doubt in his mind that it would change him, and he was so comfortable with who he was at the moment. Being close to anyone frightened him, so he kept himself removed from others, above them; untouchable. He never let anyone close, never let anyone see his fear. Now was definitely not the time to let his guard down; not in the midst of a coming war between the Erudites and Abnegation. He needed his senses, and mind, emotions would not do in times of chaos.
However even thinking of the coming war put his nerves on edge; outwardly he'd have to openly support Jeanine and the Erudites in their mission to take over the government. Secretly though he was worried; the Erudites claimed to be doing this in the name of peace, but they were destroying what they were trying to protect, how could they have gotten themselves so confused? Did Jeanine really think that only Abnegation was harboring Divergent's? Divergents were a threat to the faction system, he knew that, but did the faction system really bring peace when there was fighting between the different tribes? He looked in the mirror, what would happen when Jeanine used the Dauntless to be her soldiers? He looked down, gripping the sink in his private rooms; what would happen to the divergents in Dauntless? Surely Divergents weren't dangerous when pledged to a certain faction, they would simply adopt the factions values.
That's what Four had done, and no one had been the wiser about what Four really is; he wouldn't even had known had he not been Four's trainer. If he let Jeanine into Dauntless, it would be Four's death sentence, he was doing everything to impede her while trying to keep his position, and reputation. Never before had he been so invested in someone, to the point of risking himself; he couldn't even fully grasp why Four was so important to him. One thing he did know, was that four could never find out.
He sunk onto his bed, remembering his first private encounter with Four.
It was early, 3 am in the morning he always got up early to work out, it never did good to get too complacent. The gym was usually quiet and abandoned this early, yet he could hear someone panting and the dull thud of a punching bag in use, however he could tell just by the sound that the user wasn't swinging right; he'd do more damage to himself then to any opponent he ever took on with that technique. Eric followed the sounds to see Four, he watched from that shadows before coming up behind Four, grasping him by his hips, catching Four's fist as it comes at him. "Relax initiate, I'm not your Father." It was no secret that Marcus had beat Four throughout his childhood.
Four stilled, his breathing hard, tense as a rod, "What're you doing?" Eric snorted, "I could ask you the same thing." It was silent for a moment as neither man answered the question.
"You will never win a fight swinging like that." Eric spoke shifting Four's body into the right posture, taking his arms and maneuvering them into a more defensive position, "Strike from this side, put your body into it until you get some muscle." He let go of Four and watched him for a few minutes before wandering off to his own fitness regime.
Twenty minutes later Four approached him, "Are you always here this early?"
Eric turned to him, "Leaving already?" He stepped down to stand in front of the man, "Have you given up?"
Four looked confused, "No sir, I just thought—"
"You're last in line Tobias, do you really think twenty minutes of punching a bag full of sand is going to get you above the red line?"
"Well I—I guess not, no." He looked lost for a minute
"There are no brownie points here." Eric said quietly.
"What do you want from me?" Four demanded
"Nothing. It's not what I want, it's what you want. Do you want to be Dauntless, or do you want to be good enough for your Father?" He cut to the quick, sizing up the initiate in front of him, he saw the quiver of anger go through Four, he felt his insides constrict—he knew what it was like to be abused by the person you loved most and then to be thrown out into the world without a clue.
"I need to be here. I belong nowhere else." Four said through gritted teeth.
"Then stop hiding behind your fear and give it your everything." He looked Four in the eye, not bending under the man's anger. He waited for a response but none came, he sighed disappointed in the young initiate before going back to his own regime. He ran while kick boxing anything that popped out of the floor, he was so lost in his own work out he barely noticed when Four stood by his side and followed suit, joining in on his routine. A small smile crept into his face; he'd prove him wrong, there was a way to train someone without causing them undue pain; he wouldn't make the same mistakes that his trainer had.
But hadn't he? Hadn't he caused undue pain in the end? His old clan was hunting people like Four and he was supporting them. He shook his head, he was nothing like his trainer, nothing like Fred. Fred had pretended to care to get what he truly wanted. He shivered thinking of Fred, swallowing he pushed away from his reflection, he couldn't think of that right now. It was done and over, he had to focus. He had to get the initiates through the tests so he could make robots out of them. To hunt Divergents, to overthrow Abnegation, to go against everything he believed. Because if he didn't Fred would be right, he didn't belong in Dauntless if he didn't make the choices his leaders deemed necessary. The faction system had been working for ages, why couldn't it keep working? They had to take out the threat to their safety, security and peace.
Divergents had to be extinguished. He walked to the brink of the pit and watched Four talking with Tris. Could he put a bullet in that man's head?