A/N- THANK YOU FOR EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED, FAVORITED OR ALERTED THE FIRST CHAPTER. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. PLEASE REVIEW!
Blue. That was all Four could make out as the first jumper fell towards the net. It wasn't surprising. Erudite's were able to rationalize that there was surely something at the bottom to keep them from dying. Eric had been the first jumper when Four came through initiation. Dom, another Dauntless leader and Erudite transfer, had been first jumper in his year. Four put his hand out to the figure now struggling to the edge of the net. When the jumper took his hand and he pulled him off the net and to the platform, he stared for longer than he meant to. It was a girl, a pretty girl, but that wasn't why he was staring. She looked familiar but he had no idea why she would be. She started to fidget under his gaze and he cleared his throat. "Name?" He asked her, hoping maybe that would pinpoint the familiarity.
"Veronica." She told him quietly, but with firmness in her tone.
He turned his head, announcing to the darkness, "First jumper, Veronica!" The crowd waiting in the shadows erupted and Veronica let out a breath, meeting Four's gaze again. "Welcome to Dauntless." He told her, a small grin tugging at the edges of his mouth, threatening to make him appear pleasant. He enjoyed this part of the initiation; the look on each initiate after their fall told him a lot. This girl for example, looked determined on the surface, but also had a thread of excitement behind her eyes that he rarely saw this early. She loved this already; she belonged here.
"Ronnie!" Dominic shouted, breaking away from the crowd and making his way to the platform, grabbing Veronica around the knees and throwing her over his shoulder, spinning here while she protested. Suddenly, it clicked for Four. She looked familiar because the dark brown, nearly black hair and blue eyes were exactly the same as Dom's.
Dom set Veronica down, smiling broadly before enveloping her in a bear hug. "I knew you'd be here." He told her with a cocky expression.
"Yeah, yeah, you're the best at everything." She muttered good naturedly, ducking away before he could muss her hair. She gave him a serious look and said, "Dad said you were miserable here," she glanced around before smirking. "You don't look miserable."
"It's a good thing Dad isn't Candor." Dom said, though he didn't seem surprised. His Father would try anything to keep his little girl close.
"What do you do around here? Just run around and bother people?" She asked teasingly.
"That's actually exactly what he does." A pretty brunette with a pierced eyebrow and piercings covering her ears told her, giving Dominic a playful pinch. "He's a leader, so it's pretty much the same thing." She explained
Veronica raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You? A leader?" She asked, before looking around and leaning in to whisper, "do they know anything about you?"
"No, and don't tell them." He whispered back. He straightened and put an arm around the brunette's shoulders. "This is Lauren, she's my girlfriend, she's also training the initiates." He poked Veronica in the shoulder. "That's you."
"Is it?" She asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her big brother.
"Actually, I'm training the Dauntless born. Four has the transfers." Lauren clarified.
"Four?" Veronica asked.
Dom pointed behind her. "The asshole on the platform." He spoke loud enough for Four to hear him, and Four responded by flicking him off while pulling another initiate from the net. "We're friends." Dom said with a grin.
"Yeah, it looks like it." Veronica said sarcastically. Her mind was still processing the fact that her brother was a Dauntless leader. How did she not know that? She was amazed that her brother was still a good natured joker, but now had an air of authority that wasn't present four years prior.
The other initiates finished their jumps, and Four came over to Dom, Veronica and Lauren. "If you don't mind boss, I'm gonna do my job now." Four told him though he wore an amused expression.
"By all means." Dom told him. "Shoo Initiate!" He told Veronica, motioning her to where the other initiates were grouped. Veronica shook her head at her brother, before joining Christina and Will in the grouping of initiates.
"Who was that?" Christina asked her.
"My brother." Veronica told her.
"You didn't tell me your brother was Dauntless!" Christina said accusingly.
Veronica gave her a sideways glance. "I've known you about five minutes." She reminded her.
"Just seems like something important to mention." Christina grumbled before turning her attention to Dominic, Four and Lauren, who were all standing on the platform beside the net.
"My name is Dominic. I am another of your Dauntless leaders. I want to tell you congratulations on making it this far." He paused to allow the initiates a moment to applaud for themselves.
"And he's a leader?" Christina hissed, leaning into Veronica's ear.
"I didn't know that." Veronica said in her defense.
"The next six weeks will be some of the most difficult of your life, but it will also be some of the greatest. Some of you were born here; you've known you belong here your entire life. Others have sacrificed everything they know, everyone they call family to be here, because they knew this is where they belonged." Dom gave the transfers a long, appreciative look. "Regardless of where you came from, remember; we are more than just your faction. We are your family now." The Dauntless members standing behind the initiates burst into noisy applause and cheering, Dom stood patiently for a moment, before putting his hands up in an attempt to silence them. The noise died down some, but still lingered. Dominic gave up and began speaking over the noise, and it slowly dissipated as he spoke. "The only advice I can give you is to train hard, push yourself beyond what you think you are capable of, and most importantly, be brave." Dom looked Veronica, giving her a smile and nod. "Good Luck."
After a tour of the facility from Four, and a less than motivating speech from Eric in which they discovered they may be cut if they are at the bottom of the pack, Four left them to get dressed in their new Dauntless black, and find their way to the dining hall. While Veronica began digging through the clothes in the locker beside her bed, Christina grabbed the first outfit she found, throwing it on quickly, before peppering Veronica with questions.
"So your brother is a Dauntless leader?" Christina asked her.
"Uh, yeah. Looks like it." Veronica told her, using her locker door to conceal herself as best as possible as she changed.
"How did you not know?" Christina pushed, cocking her head curiously.
"I haven't seen him in four years." Veronica reminded her.
"Still…" Christina said as they made their way with Will to the dining hall. "Do you think if it's going to give you an advantage?"
Veronica felt her temper flair, but didn't immediately snap at Christina. She rationalized that Candor just didn't know how to be tactful, and that most of the initiates probably thought the same thing. She still didn't trust herself to answer as they sat at the middle of an empty table, thankfully Will answered for her. "Dom isn't the type to give her something she didn't earn. And Four doesn't seem like the type to play favorites."
Christina snorted as she filled her plate with the food . "Four." She muttered. "What kind of a name is Four?"
As if Christina had summoned him, Four walked behind her, towards an empty seat at the end of the table, pausing with his eyebrows raised when he heard his name.
"I mean, Four isn't a name, it's a number. It's not even short for anything. Why on earth would anyone want to be called Four?" Christina continued as Veronica and Will's eyes widened while looking at Four.
"Uh, Christina?" Will said anxiously while Four continued to stare down at them.
"What?" She said, somewhat annoyed that her monologue was interrupted.
Veronica pointed a Four and Christina turned to see him glowering down at her. She had a look of pure terror cross her face quickly before it evaporated. "I don't like your name." She told him as he took his seat at the end of the table, separating himself from them by 3 seats.
"I heard." He said as he began filling his plate.
"I'm sure you are very excited to have a bunch of Candor initiates. You can expect this kind of unintentional insulting every day." Veronica told Four, giving Christina a chance to shut up.
"And what can I expect from the Erudites?" He asked her, leveling his gaze at her.
"Our insults are always intentional, we're just smart enough to keep our mouths shut." She told him, a small grin playing on her lips.
Four gave a short chuckle, then turned his attention to his food, signaling that their conversation was over.
"Wait, did you just call me stupid?" Christina asked Veronica.
"Nope." Veronica told her, picking her food.
Christina opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off by a tall Candor transfer and Jeremy, the Amity transfer asking if they could sit with them. The group nodded and they sat down, eagerly grabbing food.
"Thanks, we really didn't want to ask them." The Candor boy told them, looking at the table next to theirs, where Edward, Myra, and the other three Candor transfers sat.
"This is Al." Christina told Will and Veronica.
"That's Jeremy." Veronica told Will and Christina, motioning to him.
"How do you know him?" Will asked curiously.
"We're old friends, we go way back." Jeremy said with a bright smile. "All the way to the rooftop." He added.
"Who are they?" Veronica asked Christina, motioning to the Candor transfers. "They don't seem very friendly."
Christina made a disgusted face while Al rolled his eyes. "That's Peter, Drew and Molly." Christina told them. "They're awful. They are just mean bullies who think they are far more important than they are."
"They haven't even tried to talk to any of us." Will said.
"That's because I'm with you, and they know I hate them." Christina explained.
"And how do they know that?" Veronica asked with an amused smile, fairly sure she already knew the answer.
"Because I told them." Christina said matter of factly. "Who are they?" She asked, motioning to Edward and Myra.
"Edward, and his girlfriend Myra. Edward has been studying hand to hand combat since he was like 12." Will said.
"Ten." Veronica corrected.
"They aren't friendly either." Al noted.
Will gave Veronica a look, and she sighed, saying, "That's because I used to date him."
"Ooooh." Christina said knowingly. "What happened?"
"Myra happened." Veronica said flatly. She knew it was much more than that, but she really didn't feel like divulging all of that to these relative strangers.
The group ate while making idle chit chat and before long began making predictions about their training and how Dauntless worked in general. "How many leaders are there?" Will asked Veronica.
"I don't know." She said, rolling her eyes. "The only ones I know are Dom and Eric, just like you."
Christina turned to Four and raised her voice to be heard over the dull roar of the dining hall chatter. "How many leaders are there?"
Four looked up and stared at her. "Who told you that you could talk to me?" He asked her.
Christina blinked, for once, stunned into silence.
"Aren't you supposed to be teaching us? And you're sitting right next to us, so if you really didn't want us to talk to you, why wouldn't you sit at any of the 100 other tables in here?" Veronica asked him. He looked at her, and she expected to see anger, annoyance or even exasperation on his face, but instead, he just looked like he had expected it.
"Just like your brother aren't you?" He asked her.
"Is that a bad thing?" She challenged.
"I didn't say that." He told her.
"You didn't say it was a good thing." She shot back.
He laughed softly, then took a breath and looked at them. "There are 5 Dauntless leaders, all of them have an equal say so in Dauntless affairs. You met Eric and Dom, there's also Max, Trinity, and Frank. Don't ask me anything else until tomorrow, and even then, don't ask unless you absolutely have to."
"Well I can tell why they picked him to be a trainer." Veronica grumbled. "He's so approachable."
The others chuckled, though they shot looks at Four to see if he had heard her before laughing.
The group got up to leave but Dom motioned for Veronica, so she told the others she would see them in the dorm and followed him to a quiet area away from the tables, close to where Four was finishing his meal. He did his best to hear them, just to be sure that Dom wasn't inadvertently giving her an advantage for the training. He was going to have to be harder on her already to be sure that the initiates knew she wasn't getting preferential treatment. He watched from the corner of his eye while Dom turned her hands over in his, seeming to inspect them. He tugged the zipper of her jacket, and she rolled her eyes, taking it off and exposing deep scars across her chest that the wife beater she wore exposed. Four remembered that Dom had mentioned to him once that his sister had been attacked by Factionless, just before his choosing ceremony. You can't trust the Factionless, Four. They are animals. Anyone who attacks a 14 year old girl is an animal. They don't deserve our help.
"What happened to you?" Peter's voice cut through the training room the next morning as he stared at Veronica. She bit the inside of her cheek and ignored him, fighting the urge to pull the low neck of her tank top up to cover the scars.
"She was jumped by a couple Factionless." Myra volunteered.
Peter chuckled. "Aren't the Factionless a bunch a starving old people?"
"Why don't you let me know when you get kicked out of training?" She snapped at him.
"Alright." Four shouted from the doorway as he walked in. The initiates jumped to attention, staring at him expectantly. "Let's get started."
After teaching them the basics of hand to hand combat, Four walked the lines of initiates as they practiced on the punching bags. Eric came in and stood by Four, watching them appraisingly.
"They still suck." Eric told him.
"They've been working for about 5 hours, so yeah, they still suck." Four told him stiffly. He hated that Eric was the leader that oversaw training. Eric was one of the major cancers affecting Dauntless.
Eric watched the initiates again before adding. "Those three." He said, pointing to Veronica, Edward, and Peter. "They don't suck as much as the rest of them. Why not?"
"I don't know. Natural talent? Maybe they trained in fighting before they came here?" Four suggested, hoping Eric would get disgusted by how badly the transfers sucked and just leave.
"The rest of them could take a lesson from them." Eric said.
"A lot of them probably didn't even think about joining Dauntless until their choosing ceremony." Four said, defending them.
"I knew I belonged here." Eric snorted.
"But even after all your preparation, you still only got 2nd in the class." Four reminded him.
Eric scowled at the reminder, before clapping his hands together. "Who's ready for a real fight?" He asked them with a wicked grin.
There was silence throughout the initiates as they shifted uncomfortably. Finally Veronica spoke up. "I am."
Eric chuckled and gestured towards the mats. "Let's go then." He said. She froze her body tensing as she realized he meant to fight. She looked at Four, whose face was grave.
"Eric!" Four said sharply, once he realized Eric wasn't backing down. "I'm not going to let you beat the shit out of an initiate. It doesn't teach them anything."
"Oh come on, she'll be fine, won't you?" Eric asked Veronica, whose eyes were darting back and forth between Four and Eric.
"I guess we'll find out." She said cautiously. She knew backing down was a mistake, but she really wished she could.
"I wouldn't expect any less from Dominic's sister." Eric said with a grin, pleased that she didn't back down.
Four stepped in front of Eric's path to the mat and crossed his arms. "If you want to give them a show, you could fight me instead. They'll learn more that way."
Eric stared at him, hate radiating from his gaze, before finally turning. "Fine, which one of you is going to fight her?" He asked.
Peter immediately stepped forward with a cocky grin on his face, and Veronica relaxed, a smile of her own starting to form on her lips as she walked onto the mat. The two began tentatively, throwing testing punches and kicks but not doing any serious damage. "Get on with it!" Eric shouted at them, crossing his arms impatiently. Peter jumped towards her intending to knock her backwards, but Veronica jumped to the left and Peter stumbled from his own momentum and Veronica seized the opportunity to land a solid set of punches to Peter's stomach and face. She kicked his knee and his feet fell out from under him. He laid on the mat, stunned by the sudden change in the fight. She looked at Eric and Four in question, not sure if she should continue.
"The fight ends, when one of you can't continue." Eric said.
"Or someone concedes." Four added.
"That was the old rules. The new rules say that you don't get to give up. You fight until you win, or until you can't continue." Eric told her, a small smile on his face as he watched Four's expression sour.
Veronica gave them a confused look, not sure what she should do. Four was her trainer, but Eric was a leader. Just as she was about to ask what constituted 'cannot continue' when the breath was knocked out of her by a punch to the side. She turned and threw an arm up to block another fist before it rattled her jaw and returned with her own punch to Peter's unguarded eye. He closed his eyes for a moment to stop the blinding explosion of light that momentarily blinded him, and she took the opportunity to rain blows on him, knocking him back to the mat, following him and continuing her assault until she was sure he was still. She stood and looked at Four and Eric. Four nodded and she walked off the mat, wiping her sweaty hands on her pants. She watched Four for a sign of approval, but he just looked troubled. "Nice job." Eric told her, laying a hand on her shoulder as he squeezed it quickly. She smiled at him and tried to put Four's reaction out of her mind. Eric was a leader after all, and he thought she did a good job.
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