Just a reminder, I don't own these characters, they belong to Veronica Roth.
Eric POV
"Time to wake up." Someone says to me while shaking my shoulder. I blink my eyes a few times and see Peter. "It's time for you two to leave. Should I even ask?" He gestures to where Tris is still sleeping with her arms wrapped around me tightly and her head nestled under my chin.
"No." I reply gruffly. "Get out." He chuckles and walks out of the bedroom.
"Tris, wake up. We have to go." I rub her back in an attempt to wake her. She stirs slightly then jerks awake.
"Sorry, I just forgot where I was for a minute." She says sleepily.
"No offense taken. Let's go."
We head downstairs and find Caleb, Peter, Christina and Will. Caleb approaches first.
"Be careful. Take care of each other." He grabs Tris and they share a long hug. He then extends his hand and I shake it. "I'm trusting you with her life. Don't let me down." He says, low enough so that its just me that hears it. I nod.
Christina throws her arms around Tris "We will see you tomorrow. Please be careful."
"We will. We'll see you all tomorrow. Be safe." Tris replies.
Caleb hands us guns and a sack full of ammo. "There's some water and food in there too." We both thank him.
We head out in the frigid night air to make our way to the train. "We'll take the train as far as we can, unless it's not safe." I say and Tris nods. The train quickly approaches, we run alongside it and I jump in first. The car is empty, so I turn around and extend my hand to Tris, pulling her in quickly.
"We have awhile if you want to rest." I say to her. We sit next to each other against the back wall, facing the door.
"I'm fine. I slept pretty well earlier." She replies quietly. I look over and see her shivering. I take my coat off and throw it over her. "Thank you." She says.
We sit in silence for awhile. I notice that Tris scoots away from me, but she pats my leg and gestures for me to move it. She then sits between my legs, scooting back until her back is flush with my chest, then throws my coat across both of us like a blanket.
"Your teeth were chattering." She says.
"Thanks." I reply. I instinctively wrap my arms around her, "Sorry." I say, before moving my arms. She doesn't reply, she just grabs both of my hands and pulls my arms back around her waist tighter. She leans her head back on my shoulder.
"Body heat." She says and I nod.
After a few minutes, I can feel Tris start to relax against me. Her even breathing makes me think she's sleeping. I glance down and I see that I'm right. I hold her a little tighter, and move her slightly so her drooping head is now in the crook of my neck. Her warm breath is soothing.
We are quickly approaching where we need to jump for Amity, so I gently shake Tris awake. She snuggles into my neck for a moment, and I feel her brush her lips against my skin. She probably thinks I'm Four.
"Tris, wake up." I say, shaking her again. She moves and looks up at me, blinking several times.
"I'm awake. I didn't even realize I fell asleep. I'm sorry." She replies. She begins to move and she stumbles against me. "Oh, shit, sorry."
"Stop apologizing to me." I say, gruffly. "Get up, we have to jump soon."
We both stand up and Tris attempts to hand me my coat. I shake my head. "Put it on, you need it more than me right now." She nods slightly.
"Am I allowed to say thank you?" She asks with a hint of anger.
"You just did. Jump." I reply and Tris takes a running start before jumping out of the train. I do the same right after her. We can see the Amity compound ahead and we begin walking in that direction. We reach the Dauntless guards at the gate, who I quickly recognize as Samuel and Jason, two initiates from my training class. They eye me wearily.
"Why are you here?" Samuel asks. "You are pretty stupid coming here without backup. Your kind aren't welcome here."
"He's with me. He's on our side, he saved my life." Tris replies. "He killed Jeanine."
Both guards eyes widen at Tris's explanation. "How do we know you're telling the truth? He could be forcing you to say that." Samuel asks.
"You don't. We've come here seeking refuge. If he was working with Erudite, why wouldn't we go there? There are two of us and many of you. Be realistic." She replies.
"She's telling the truth. I'm not holding anyone against their will. It's fucking cold, can we find somewhere indoors to discuss this at least?" I reply angrily.
"You're lucky she's with you because your attitude still fucking sucks." Samuel replies.
"Will you please let us in? We're not here to cause any harm." Tris says.
"We will have to take you straight to Johanna." Jason says.
"That's fine." Tris replies.
We are escorted to Johanna's office, where I introduce her to Tris. She greets both of us with a smile, pausing to hug Tris.
"Welcome. How can I help you?" She asks, gesturing for us to have a seat in front of her desk.
"We're here to find the loyal Dauntless, and also the Abnegation refugees." Tris responds.
"I see. I thought you were loyal to Jeanine's cause." Johanna addresses me directly. "Although, I have heard rumors stating otherwise. I don't like rumors though, I like facts."
"No, I was not loyal to Jeanine. I was a mole, working with some Dauntless loyal, along with members of other factions in order to stop Jeanine." I reply.
Johanna nods. "So are the other rumors true, the ones saying you killed Jeanine and Max?"
Tris draws in a sharp intake of air next to me. "You killed Max?" She asks.
"Yes, I had to kill him, and yes I also killed Jeanine." I reply, hoping this is enough answer for now. Tris seems to read my mind and simply nods in response.
"I understand the factionless are working with the loyal Erudite and Dauntless traitors to overthrow the faction system." Johanna replies.
"You are correct. They are being led by Evelyn Johnson Eaton, Marcus Eaton and Tobias Eaton, who you may also know as Four." I reply. Johanna nods.
"I had heard he was a traitor, although I didn't want to believe it. I'm sorry to hear it." She replies.
"As are we." I reply.
"The Abnegation refugees are here, along with some Dauntless. We've had faction representatives keeping records of all of the survivors. Most of the Dauntless seem to be staying in Candor, according to the information we've gathered thus far." Johanna replies. "Is there someone in particular you're looking for?"
I rub my hand through my hair and down my face. "I wonder if any of the Dauntless leaders survived. Max and Four were both traitors, and I haven't seen Harrison or Karl since everything started."
Johanna types on her tablet, her eyebrows furrowed. "Max, Karl and Harrison are listed as deceased, Four and you are marked as traitors. Eric, as much as I'd like to change that status for you, I can't. You're going to have to go to Candor to clear your name. From what I understand, Harrison was also working with Jeanine. As of right now, Dauntless has no leadership."
"We will need to go to Candor soon. I need to get Dauntless back together, as much as we are able to." I reply, then look at Tris "Of course we will find your parents first." Tris nods.
"Johanna, I'm also looking for Natalie and Andrew Prior. Are they here?" Tris asks.
Johanna types on her tablet again and her expression changes. She comes around from the back of her desk and perches on the front corner of her desk closest to Tris.
"The Prior's are your parents?" She asks, but she already knows the answer.
"Yes, are they here?" Tris asks.
"Tris, I'm very sorry to have to tell you this. Your parents were killed during the attack on Abnegation." Johanna quietly says.
"No, that can't be right. I was told they were hiding in the church basement. There's been a mistake in your records." Tris replies frantically.
"Tris, the church was infiltrated during the attack. There were no survivors. Your parents bodies were reported as recovered. I'm very sorry." Johanna reaches for Tris' hand, but Tris immediately jumps up from her chair, sobbing and pacing. I go to her, unsure of what to do to comfort her. When she's facing me I pull her into my arms and let her cry.
"Johanna, would it be ok if Tris and I were to stay here tonight?" I ask.
"We don't typically turn any of the war refugees away, however because of your traitor status we will have to vote. Under the circumstances," she gestures at Tris, "I will put that off until tomorrow morning and I will have a room prepared for you. Take the time you need, I'll come back when it's ready." She walks out of the office.
I just hold Tris as tight as I can, rubbing my hands along her back. I'm not sure of how to comfort someone, but this feels like the right thing to do. I can feel Tris swaying a bit, so I slide down the wall into a sitting position, pulling Tris down onto my lap. She continues to sob and clutch onto me. Soon, her cries start to subside into whimpers and hiccups.
"Do you think that Marcus and Tobias killed my parents?" She asks.
"I don't know." I reply honestly.
Johanna returns. "We've prepared a room for you, please follow me."
Tris and I get up and she immediately takes my hand. We follow Johanna to a room.
"There's clothes and toiletries left here for you both. We had to guess your sizes, but we can find you more tomorrow. I'm sorry we didn't have a bigger room, will this suffice for tonight at least?"
"Yes, thank you." Tris quietly answers. Johanna pulls her into another hug, which Tris reciprocates.
"Johanna, the rest of our group plans on moving tomorrow evening from Abnegation. Will they be able to stay here?" I ask.
"Of course. We can prepare space in the dormitory, it'll take some time but we can manage. Please let me know if you need anything at all." She says, before slipping out the door.
"I think I want to shower." Tris says.
"Let's find you some clean clothes." I reply, rummaging through the clothes Johanna left. I find a red long sleeved tshirt and the smallest pair of sweatpants in the pile. "Will this work?" I ask. Tris nods, then finds some clean undergarmets and heads to the bathroom.
I'm lost in my own thoughts and must have dozed off because I jerk awake when I hear the bathroom door open. Tris steps out wearing the red tshirt and holding the pants. "They're too big." She says quietly.
"I'm going to take a quick shower now." I say, grabbing some clothes and disappearing into the bathroom. I'm surprised to see how well stocked the shower is. I stand beneath the hot water, just letting it wash over me. It's been days since I've had a proper shower, and this feels great. I get washed up, step out to dry off and dress in some clean boxers and a pair of yellow basketball shorts.
When I step out of the bathroom I see Tris sitting on the couch with her legs up close to her body and her arms wrapped around her knees. She looks lost in thought. I sit down next to her.
"Want to talk about it?" I ask.
"Why did you have to kill Max?" She asks. I'm caught off guard by her question.
"You heard me when I answered Johanna." I reply.
"I did, but I want to know the whole story. You said you had to do it." She replies.
"What more is there?" I reply, moving to stand up. She reaches for my hand and pulls me back towards her.
"Stop that. You can't just get pissed when you don't want to talk about something. You do that all the time and it needs to stop."
"What do you even know about me Tris? You've spent your entire time in Dauntless hating me, listening to that fucking number idiot. Like you said earlier like you are a terrible judge of character." I reply. She won't let go of my hand.
"You're right. I did judge you, and I'm sorry. How can I get to know the real you when you constantly push me away?" She responds calmly. "Your first reaction is to attack. You don't need to have your defenses up constantly Eric. You saved me, and you saved so many others when you stopped Jeanine. I was wrong about you."
Her response isn't what I expected. "Fine. What do you want to know?"
"Will you please tell me about Max?" She asks.
"I decided early on that I wanted nothing to do with Jeanine and her ridiculous genocide plans. I wanted Max to see her for what she was, he was like a father to me and I just wanted him to do the right things. He didn't, he was fooled by Jeanine and her promises for power and importance in her new government. I was able to keep appearances up until they brought you in. Max didn't see me kill Jeanine, but he caught us trying to rescue you. He pulled a gun on you to finish the job. So, I had a decision to make, him or you." I reply.
"You chose me. I'm surprised." She replies. "I know Max was important to you."
"He didn't leave me a choice."
"I wish he could have met your expectations. I know you cared deeply for him." She says.
"Yeah, well he didn't."
"You saved me more than once. Thank you." She says quietly. "But why? I'm just one person, and you risked a lot."
It's a fair question. There's something that is drawing me to Tris, it's almost as if we have this unspoken connection but every time I try to think about the friendship, or whatever it is that we had I draw huge blanks. From what little I can piece together, we've never exactly been friends. I know many of the tattoos I have are from her, but that seems to have been the extent of our interactions because of her super possessive ex boyfriend. I've always paid close attention to her since I knew how much Jeanine wanted her. She's always intrigued me, after all it was hard not to notice the Stiff who made it to first place in training, but it was also frustrating to watch her follow Four like a lost puppy. She needed her own strength and she depended on him instead. Even though I can't put my finger on it right now I know there was something between Tris and me.
"No one deserves to be treated the way you have been." I reply, carefully choosing my words.
We sit in silence, until I hear her crying softly. "I can't believe my parents died. In just a few days time I lost my parents and the man who claimed to love me. All I have left is Caleb." She's crying much harder now. I realize I need to open up a bit to her.
"You asked me about Jeanine. You said it was personal, well you were right." I say, she meets my eyes and nods her head. "When I took my aptitude test, my results were an even split between Dauntless and Erudite."
"You're divergent." She whispers.
"Yes. Jeanine knew, and she saw it as an opportunity. Dauntless had been very hesitant to partner with Erudite for years, so she decided instead of using me as one of her Guinea pigs for testing she could use me within Dauntless. She pushed me to choose Dauntless, she had me trained before I even left Erudite and she expected me to come in first and go into leadership. My first strike in her eyes was when I finished second in rankings to Four. He turned down leadership the first several times he was offered it, so they finally offered it to me. Her assignment for me was for me to hunt divergents, bringing her the ones she deemed fit and killing the others. Apparently that was my second strike because I couldn't bring myself to turn any in, nor could I kill anyone. So even though I seemed to appease her enough with my false reports, she knew better. My third strike was when I didn't bring you to her myself, and she had to convince Marcus and Four to have you delivered to her instead of them bringing you to Evelyn. Her punishment for my third strike was to have my family killed. The day we rescued you was the day I found out about my family's murder."
"Oh my God." Tris says, looking at me with tears in her eyes. She scoots closer to me, and reaches for my face. I feel her wiping tears from my cheeks that I had no idea I shed. She puts her arms around me and pulls me close. I wrap my arms around her and hold onto her like she'll disappear. I'd only recently found out about my family's murder, and I haven't had time to process it or grieve. Tris is clutching on to me, rubbing one hand down my back and the other thru my hair. It's then that I finally let it out. I cry into Tris' shoulder, feeling the sobs wracking my body and causing me to shake uncontrollably.
"It's my fault. My family, your parents, it's all because I didn't follow her instructions."
"No. You did everything right Eric. You did everything you could to stop her, and you saved countless lives. She would have done this with or without you. You saw that yourself with Max's alliance. She has Marcus, Evelyn and Four too. You are one person, Eric. You have to stop trying to carry the entire weight of the world on your shoulders. You cannot blame yourself." She says to me, putting her hands on my face and making me look at her.
We stare at each other for what feels like an eternity, two broken people trying to find something whole. She leans towards me and I meet her half way, crashing my lips into hers. She parts her lips slightly and I let my tongue slip in to her eager mouth. Our tongues dance, and fight for dominance. My hands wander into her hair and she moves so she's straddling me. I pull her hair back so her neck is exposed, and I suck on her pulse point until she moans lightly. I pull her mouth back to mine and we kiss each other passionately, like we've waited our whole lives for it. I pull away from the kiss.
"Tris, what are we doing?" I ask.
"I don't want us to be sad anymore Eric. We've lost everything. Our families, our homes, we've been betrayed. We have each other though."
"I don't want to do something you're going to regret." I reply.
She pulls her tshirt over her head, leaving her in just her underwear. She moves my hands onto her breasts and I skim my thumbs across her hard nipples. She kisses my jawline and then my neck and back to my mouth. I kiss down her neck and to her breasts and take one of her nipples into my mouth, running my tongue across it and sucking it lightly while massaging her other breast. She moans and grinds into my erection. She runs her hands down my bare chest and reaches into the waistband of my shorts. She wraps her small hand around my cock and I moan loudly, biting her breast. She starts to slowly stroke me, while kissing me hungrily. I pull back and put my hand on her arm.
"Tris, I'm not Four."
"I don't want you to be him." She replies, kissing me again.
"If we don't stop soon I may not be able to." I reply.
"Good." She replies.
"We have no protection." I reply.
"I'm clean and on the shot. Are you clean?" She asks.
"Yeah, clean, always wore condoms with other partners." I reply.
"Take me, please Eric." She moans.
She stands up and removes her underwear, leaving her completely naked. She reaches for my waistband again and begins tugging my shorts and boxers off. I lift my hips up so she can remove them completely. She kneels down and licks my cock from base to tip, swirling her tongue around its head. She then takes me into her mouth.
"Fuck, that feels so good Tris." I put my hands onto her head and guide her up and down. She's sucking and dragging her teeth lightly up and down my shaft. My cock touches the back of her throat a few times, she relaxes her throat and takes me fully into her warm mouth. It's been entirely too long since I've been intimate with anyone and I know I'm not going to last. "I'm going to cum." I breathe. She continues to suck me until I spill into her mouth. She licks it all and swallows.
I pick her up and carry her to the bed, laying her down gently. I pull her to the edge, and spread her legs apart. I kiss her inner thighs, then run my tongue down her wet folds. I plunge my tongue into her, then move up and run my tongue around her sensitive bundle. "Eric...yes...that feels so good..." I gently suck on her clit, then slowly push my middle finger into her.
"You are so wet, you taste so fucking good Tris." She grinds into me, and I respond by entering another finger. I pump my fingers into her while licking, sucking and biting her clit. Her breathing gets ragged and heavy.
"I'm cumming, Eric!" She moans my name loudly, and I lap up her juices while she rides out her orgasm. She pulls my hair and guides me to her mouth. She's kissing me hard, her hands wander down and start to stroke me again.
"Tris, I want you so much." I moan against her neck while kissing it.
"Take me." She breathes against me.
"I don't want you to regret this." I look her in the eyes.
"I won't. I want you as much as you want me. Please." She replies.
I push into her slowly, giving her time to adjust. The feeling of being skin to skin with someone for the first time is overwhelming and I'm finding it difficult to stay still. She starts moving her hips against me and I start pumping into her, letting her meet my pace. I lean down and kiss her hard, slipping my tongue into her mouth and mating her tongue with mine.
"Harder." She whispers. I start pounding into her harder, her moans are louder. I pull out of her completely and flip her to her stomach. I pull her hips up so she's on her knees and thrust into her quickly.
"Fuck you're tight." I moan. I start pounding into her hard and fast. I can already feel her walls tightening around my cock.
"You feel so good. You're gonna make me cum." She moans loudly. I feel her walls throbbing around me, she's even wetter now. I keep thrusting into her, but I feel myself falling over the edge.
"Tris..." I yell while spilling deep inside of her, barely able to catch my breath. She moves slightly to lay down, so I pull out of her. I lay on my back and pull her to my chest, wrapping one arm around her.
"That was incredible." She whispers.
"It really was." I reply. She soon falls asleep. I am left with my own thoughts. What the hell was I thinking?