Hello everyone! This is Nonumaru. I'd like to present you with my first ever Divergent fanfiction. This is Eric/OC, but will start out from Eric's perspective. It may start out a tad slow, but I hope that you like it. I've been really obsessed with the Eric/ OC pairing as of late. That has inspired me to make one of my own. So, without further ado…
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Prologue: Eric's Past
Three Years Earlier
(Eric)
As I wake, soft rays of sunlight fall upon the foot of my bed, splaying on the sheets. At this time they appear a happier shade of blue than they actually are. Tiny dust particles float around my room in the light of the rising sun.
I glance over at my clock and am not surprised by the time. It is 6:30 on the dot. I grunt and reluctantly get out of bed. My black boxers and t-shirt are wrinkled so much from the tossing and turning I have to stretch them to get them to straighten out. My mother will not be very happy about this.
Before heading to the kitchen for some breakfast, I go to the bathroom to check if my appearance is acceptable. A forlorn teenage kid looks back at me, somewhere between the stage of boy and man. This person has big bags under his eyes and unruly sandy blond hair.
I sigh, pulling at my chin and my arms. I'm chubby and I know it. My parents aren't afraid to say so either. My mother always constantly comments about how I'm not fat now, but our family has a tendency to get "unsightly looking".
"You are eventually going to have to start working out Eric," she says, eyes critiquing my every flaw. "It is too bad that you didn't get your father's good looks either." Then she will look away and shake her head as if something she sees disgusts her. It is hilarious how she always talks about my father. We barely see him, maybe for about an hour on the weekends. He works under Jeanine Matthews, the head of our faction. Because of this we happen to be quite wealthy, but equal parts miserable.
Just when I think that she's done, she will usually say something along the lines of, "We Erudite will not except any sort of silly Dauntless ideal, but I truly think that it is within in your best interest to go for at least thirty minutes a day. Don't you?"
I steel myself for the lecture as I open one of the drawers in my bathroom. Inside I grab my tube of concealer to dab at my eyes with. I really don't want my mom getting on my case about this trivial thing about my appearance.
When I walk casually into the kitchen, I exhale in relief to see that my mother is not sitting in her usual seat. Her sweater is on the back of the chair however, but her glasses are gone. A letter sits where her breakfast would have been. Assuming it is for me, I pick up and read it.
Eric,
I will be gone for a month working and doing research at the hospital. Dad will be home in two weeks to check up on you. I trust that you will take care of yourself and make sure you get to school on time without my help. Believe me, I will know if you are misbehaving. If anything is out of place, I will know.
There was no signature at the end of the letter. There was no "Love: Mom". It just ended.
The worst part about this whole thing is… it is my 16th Birthday today.
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As the days passed, a fiery anger arose in me. It was an anger that hadn't been there before. I wanted to break everything in sight: the stupid bookshelves on the walls, my mother's beloved historic vase, the huge glass walls of the library I was forced to go to every day, my faction. I was so tired of living in hell.
I knew feeling like this wasn't at all healthy, so like any wise Erudite, I looked up a way to solve my problems. It was most likely raging hormones due to adolescence. A lot of the self-help books suggested exercise was the key to lessening the effects, but I hated to believe that my mom was right. She wouldn't be happy no matter what I tried to do.
That is when I had a realization. What was the point of day after day trying to please my parents, when they never actually would ever be pleased with me?
A week after my mother left for the hospital, I began to work. After suffocating in school I would go to the library and look up books about physical exercise. And there were many. They ranged from competitive swimming books from old legends such as Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin, to the running masters like Usain Bolt.
I knew that I had to be very careful with how I dealt with my body since I barely had any muscle mass at all. I started out slow, with core exercises and jogging. I would not go above five-pound weights.
Waking up in the morning was hard and paying attention in class was getting harder to manage. If I stood up too quickly, purple spots danced before my vision and my knees became wobbly. I was sore everywhere.
The few friends I had noticed the changes in me that I had been so desperate to hide. Regan Undermeyer brought it up with me one day at the start of week two. The guy was like a stick, probably Italian in origin, with glossy black hair and brown eyes. Ever since I could remember I was jealous of just how easily he could get a girl.
"Dude, what is up with you?" he said. "You seem so out of it lately. Is there something going on at home?"
I stiffened. I almost never said anything about the goings at my house. I had never mentioned that my mother hit and kicked me when she was frustrated with herself. I had never told them that my father was almost never home. That is probably why when I got together with my friends; I would only meet up with them at the library or one of their houses.
After a moment of pause my friend Prentice chimed in. "Yeah, you seem very sluggish." As she said this she cocked her head, letting a lock of light blond hair cascade over her shoulder.
"Nothing is going on at home guys," I smoothly lied. "I have been starting to work out though, and I-"
"No…" Prentice nearly jumped off her chair in shock. Her blue eyes were saucers.
"Prentice, calm down," Regan stated, "I work out too."
Then he turned to look at me. "Why though? You don't really need to."
I almost laughed in bitterness. Me, not needing to work out after years of being reprimanded for not doing it, hilarious. "Hormones," I said.
Regan chuckled slightly, "I know, just try not to overdo it okay?"
At least my friends cared about me. It was quite endearing.
"Don't worry. I've done my research."
He caught my eye again and we laughed.
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Three days later my dad came home. It was raining that day and he was sopping wet. I heard the key in the lock and the squelch of his boots on the floor as he walked in.
I was quietly doing my Biology homework when he walked in. "Good evening Eric."
"Hi father," I replied, not looking up from the huge diagram of a cell that was laid out on the dining room table.
When I made no move to initiate conversation he started it himself. "So, are you prepared for your aptitude test in two weeks, and the choosing ceremony in three?"
That question caught me off guard. I had never really thought about it before.
"I suppose so," I said, looking him in the eye for the very first time in months.
He looked terrible. The bags under his eyes weren't even the worse of my father's problems. He was so thin, he could've rested in the shade of a clothesline. His light brown hair was greasy even when wet and he had grown a scraggly beard.
I nearly dropped my pencil. "Father, are you okay?"
He steeled his gaze immediately. "I'm fine. Why?"
"You've been gone a long time. I just… I just…" I couldn't continue. I just couldn't. It was sickening to see what Jeanine Matthew had done to this man. What Erudite had done to him. It was that moment I realized that I had to get out of this terrible faction, away from my crumbling life.
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The day of the choosing ceremony was bright and sunny. Wind blew through the trees behind me as my mother said goodbye. This is the only day I remember her seeing me off since I was little.
Her slate gray eyes that I inherited seemed to pierce through me as she said, "Don't disappoint me Eric."
It wasn't a reminder. It was a threat. I just nodded and averted my eyes, hoping and praying that my result wasn't what I think it was going to be.
They weren't going with me to the building where they held the ceremony as most Erudite parents did. Most adults were busy well into five o'clock, but we had to get there early. I found it kind of nice because it allowed me think over things a bit.
So I trudged down to the bus stop, depressed despite the happy scenery. When the vehicle rolled up I noticed an empty seat next to Regan near the window. I thank whatever higher being there is that I didn't have to sit next to a nervous stranger. That's one thing about Regan; he always keeps his nerves in check.
Once I walked up to him, he made room for me and cracked a small smile. "Are you ready?" he asked. There was a glint in the look he gave me that he knew something that I was not aware he did. It bothered me.
I sighed and run a hand through my hair. "For a long time."
He exhaled in relief beside me. "Me too."
I turned to gaze at him with a questioning brow, but he said nothing in return. He had his secrets to keep too. Thank heavens we weren't Candor, otherwise we'd be ratted out pretty quickly.
"Regan," I said.
"Yeah?"
"We really aren't Abnegation are we?"
He chuckled a little, pushing his nose where his glasses usually were. "Definitely not."
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Enjoy, read and review always! Tell me what you think/whether to continue or not.