Chapter 3
"Are you ready for another day of fear sim hell?" Uri mutters as he takes a seat beside Tris, pulling Mar beside him.
Tris snorts and shrugs. "Not my favorite part of the day but at least we are getting near the end."
Peter picks at his food and scowls. "Easy for you to say Stiff. You make this shit look easy. I don't know how the fuck you do it."
Peter is still scowling and doesn't see Tris stiffen or the others look at her with questions in their own eyes. He didn't mean to plant doubts he was just muttering and pissed off because his fears had him messed up right now. The things your mind conjured up were seriously more demented than he ever gave himself credit for and it made him wonder how fucked up he really was.
"How do you do it?" Al asks in a whiney voice that has always been able to set Peter off.
"How does she do what Al? Beat you? The little stiff beating the big brute? Maybe she is just better than you in everything. Ever think of that? Maybe you just aren't cut out for things here or for the things you see in that thing you call a brain." Peter is projecting all his own thoughts at this point and unleashing on the weakest target.
A move he has always done and one he is trying so hard to stamp out of himself but it is a lot harder than he thought it would be.
Chris gives Tris a look that plainly says, 'see I told you so' causing Tris to scowl even more. The thing is she kind of agreed with Peter. She would never have said it like he did. She knows that is Peter using that attitude he always uses to say things he might be feeling about himself but in a way that cuts someone else.
Her scowl deepened and she slammed her hand down on the table. "Peter!" She barked at him.
Peter's head snapped to her and they glared at each other. "What? I'm just saying what everyone here is thinking including you. Stiff. Like we don't hear him crying almost every night since he got here. Or see that when he should be the top person just because of how big he is, he is the weakest because he has no spine. I won't apologize for telling him or you like it is because maybe it will help him. You want to know how she does it Al? Maybe she does it but not being such a weak coward all of the time. Now, I am going to leave and Chris you can go on about how I am such a dick."
Peter grabs his tray and shoves off from the table. As predicted he does here Chris' muttered calling him a dick. He never said he wasn't one and yeah he was more cruel than he needed to be in addressing Al's question. He was also right even if he was also saying about himself too.
He made his way to the training room and decided to get a little time on the bags before he made his way to the waiting room where they sat before they were called in. It didn't help his mood that he was stressed out from having to hide something he hadn't even known he was until his damn aptitude testing.
The Abnegation woman hadn't said he would be in danger so much as she just said it would be best if no one knew and that he needed to learn how to hide it. Divergent. What the hell was it anyways? Four had been shocked when he had emerged from his first sim. Peter had been shocked more from what the hell his fear had been.
He didn't know who the girl was but it had shaken him to his core that he could feel so much for someone and be willing to die for them. He had always felt he was way to selfish and too much of a dick to ever care that much for anyone besides himself. Four had said he had somehow changed things in the sim and that he shouldn't have been able to. He changed them because he was Divergent.
Apparently so was Tris. Four hadn't come out and said it but he had hinted that maybe he should talk to Tris about her sims. He hadn't known how to for the first few days and so didn't. It wasn't until Tris cornered him that he found out what it meant and what he needed to do. It didn't make him any happier and it added to the stress.
Both he and Tris seemed to be stretched thin and it was showing more on him than her. Somehow they had become good friends since that night at the Chasm. He wondered at that but didn't complain. Although he did comment on it to her once. Tris had just laughed and said she was used to having an odd collection of friends. Her best friend was Erudite and apparently was a handful.
He could tell that Tris missed her and was even hopeful she would be transferring in. She was also the one that had helped Tris to find a way to hide her divergence. There were grumblings about being a divergent not being fair or safe but that was all they were. He couldn't see what the big deal was because it wasn't like it made things easier for them.
With a sigh he worked the bags and lost himself with the activity. He knew he was going to get shit from Tris and the others for coming down on Al but he couldn't help it. Al didn't belong in Dauntless.
A thought had been running through Peter's mind lately though. He had been second behind Tris for the last few weeks. It was being hinted that they would both be offered leadership positions if they made top ranks. At first he was ecstatic about that. Lately though he began to wonder and especially after one of his fears came through.
He feared that having power would corrupt him so much that he would become a monster. The problem was that Peter couldn't say it wouldn't happen. He had no power now and everyday he was struggling with being a better person. How much would that struggle increase with all that power and burden of being a leader?
"You're a dick Peter." The voice stops Peter in his tracks mid punch to the bag. He turns to see the petite form of Chris stalking to him with a scowl on her face.
Peter shakes his head and turns back to the bags with a matching scowl. "You hunted me down to tell me something you tell me at least fifty times a day and have since we were five Chris?"
Chris keeps her stride and stops near him, arms crossed over her chest and scowl still in place. "No. I have more to say."
"Oh joy." Peter drawled out after he stopped and faced her. "Well let's hear it so I can get back to beating on the bags."
Chris frowned then sighed. "You're a dick Peter and you always will be."
Peter rolled his eyes and tried not to let his temper surface. It was like hearing his father all over again in tearing him down. "You know, if I wanted to be constantly torn down and made to feel like scum I could have stayed in Candor with my dad. Is that all you have to say to me?"
Chris blanched at this but then her spine straightened and her chin raised. She just had to remember why she had come in the first place.
"You aren't the only one that was made to feel that way Peter. I realize I am not the nicest person but I do try. It was pointed out to me that maybe you are just doing the best you can too." She takes a deep breath and holds out her hand. "So this is me. Trying to understand and maybe move on."
Peter quirks an eyebrow and tilts his head. With a sigh he takes her hand and shakes it before releasing it. He knows her enough to know she isn't done though. "Sounds good. Why do I have the feeling that you aren't finished though?"
Chris nods. "Because I'm not. Look I'm worried about something but I didn't know who to go to. You aren't wrong about Al. What you might not know is that he has also been hanging out with Drew and Molly lately. They all aren't doing well in the sims and I think because they're all from our faction it brought them together. The thing is we all know how desperate things are getting."
Peter sighs and nods. "You want me to see if they are trying to get him to do something or are planning anything." It wasn't a question but rather a statement.
He hadn't realized that Al had been recruited to be in Drew and Molly's little bitch sessions. He had been skipping them lately to work on his sims and trying to solve them in more Dauntless ways.
Chris nodded and chewed her lip. "He is obsessed with Tris and we both know Molly and Drew blame her for everything that goes wrong for them."
Peter's face darkens and his fists clench. He tries not to show how much this bothers him. He doesn't feel romantically for Tris but she is the closest thing to a real best friend he has ever had.
Chris's eyes narrow and she tilts her head observing Peter. She gets an internal smile at how protective he is being right now. She doesn't like Peter and may never like him. But if he is willing to protect Tris then she is alright with that.
"Well then maybe I should hang out with my two best friends tonight and catch up." Peter grits out with nostrils flared.
Chris smirks and shrugs. "Sounds good. By the way, we are going to be late if we don't get to the sim room soon."
With a nod and a sigh Peter moves to go grab a towel and wipe himself down before he follows her out of the door. She had already moved off without him. He isn't looking forward to the remainder of his day. Now not even the off hours are appealing to him but he will sure as hell be seeing what those two are up to. He wouldn't let another person be hurt if he could help it and for sure not Tris.
"You should have heard him Peter. He is so damn whiney but he is also a huge pervert." Drew snorts and passes the bottle of whiskey to Molly.
Peter puts on his evil smirk and looks to Drew. "What, he have some weird fetish or something?"
Molly drinks and laughs. "No but he sure has a thing for the Stiff. He is always going on about how she never notices him and that sometimes he sticks around to watch her in the showers. I don't know why...it isn't like there is anything to see." She sneers out but Peter can see the jealousy behind her statement.
She has been jealous of Tris and the other girls from the moment she set foot on the roof. She thought that because of her stature and being physically suited for Dauntless she would be better suited to finding herself a man than any of the scrawny girls in their transfer group. She was even sure she would be better off than the Dauntless born.
She wasn't bad looking but her personality and demeanor made her ugly. That was becoming more apparent to Peter all the time and making him question what kind of girl he was looking for. He had hook ups in Candor and here he had a few at the beginning. They might have been good for those few hours or minutes but they were lacking. Fuck if he knew what they were lacking though.
He is pulled out of his musings by listening to Drew and Molly talk about how they were getting in Al's head and telling him he just needed to man up and take what he wanted. That it would prove he was Dauntless. Peter felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck and his blood start to boil.
They had no firm plans but they said Al was getting closer everyday after fear Sims. There was something in his fear sims that was almost driving him to it. He needed to tell someone about this but he needed to tell Tris to not be alone with Al again if she could help it.
Peter sought Four out after he left the roof. He had left Molly and Drew to their bottle and their rantings then stated he was going to go grab some beers to add to the party. Really he just couldn't hold his temper in and felt he needed to let someone know now.
He had his suspicions about Four and his feelings for Tris. He didn't mind them at all, although Four and he didn't really get along. The dude was just too uptight. Not like he got along with Eric either but Peter didn't think many people got along with the young leader.
Out of the two that he felt he could and should approach though, he knew it was going to be Four. If Four really did care for and have feelings for Tris then he would be the one to help watch out more than Eric.
Peter had to go to the training room when one of Four's friends directed him there. He found Four at the knife throwing stations and approached him.
Four paused before he threw the knife in his hand, turning to the approaching Initiate. "There a problem Initiate?" His forehead furrowed as he put the knife down and crossed his arms over his chest.
Peter ran a hand through his hair nodding. "Or a potential one. You remember what Max and Eric asked me to do?"
Four simply nodded and waited for him to go on.
"Well I got kind of tied up in trying to figure out my whole personal situation." He muttered quietly but Four understood and nodded. Peter sighed, he really made it hard to just want to open up to him with his brooding silence all of the time.
"Well apparently they recruited someone into their pity parties. Al. I just spent time on the roof with them and they let slip some interesting and disturbing things. I won't go into the details of what he was saying but let's just say he has a major thing for Tris and in a really creepy and dangerous way. Molly and Drew are trying to push him to 'assert'..." Peter uses air quotes for that and is speaking through a clenched jaw at this point "himself and take what he wants. They don't have any plans but they said something about his fear sims."
Four's lips thin and his hands clench, his whole body going rigid. Al had some pretty messed up fear sims and one of them was about him being forced to watch himself rape a girl. He didn't fight against that one very hard and lately he wasn't even putting in an effort. He had already alerted leadership about that. The girl was faceless though so it suggested that Al didn't see the girl as a person.
"Then we won't let her be alone with Al. She is supposed to be with Chris, Will and Al right now I think." Four mutters without thinking.
Peter smirks a little and shrugs. "I wouldn't know where she is right now. We are friends but not that kind of friend." He was throwing that out there, a man code to let him know he wasn't trying for anything with Tris.
Four tilted his head and looked Peter over. He could admit he had been jealous of them. He had been for sure Peter was trying something even when Tris insisted that he wasn't and even if he was she wouldn't be interested.
Four sighed and nodded. "Thanks for that. Look, no one can know and nothing has happened. She wants to wait until she makes it, or as she says if she makes it." Both men roll their eyes at that because there is no way she isn't making it or even coming in at least in the top three with her current ranking and times. "Regardless I agree. I don't want crap started and a bigger target painted on her back. Before I would have said you would be one targeting her but I am glad to say I was wrong. So I am asking if you will help me keep an eye on this Peter?"
Nice way of asking asshole. That was all Peter could think at the moment but then he just shrugged it off. Like he would have asked any better. Maybe it was just a Dauntless thing. Dauntless seemed to be full of assholes and dicks.
"Tris is a my friend Four. Probably the first and only real friend I have ever had. If I can help it they won't get near her again. So I will keep an eye on it but it is because I would have anyways." Peter shrugs and says truthfully.
Four's lips thin in thought and he nods. "Where did you leave Molly and Peter?"
Peter tilts his head. "Well I left them on the roof. I left it open for me to head back but I needed to get out of there before my temper got to me and I just pushed their asses off. "
Peter wasn't even playing a that. It had taken every ounce of will and restraint he had to not just stand up and kick his foot out to shove them off the edge.
"I told them I was going to get some beer and head back up there." Peter shrugged.
Four sighed and ran a hand through his head. "Well if you think you can handle it, go back up there with them. I will try and see if I can locate Tris and the others to keep an eye on them."
With a nod they both left. Four told Peter to go ahead of him so they wouldn't be seen together if the three should be in the area. When he left Peter stopped by to get the beer he claimed he was going to get then headed back to the roof. When he got there though he saw that Al had joined them.
Al looked wary of him and as if he was going to get up to leave. Peter thought it better that he keep him there and be able to listen in. He hated doing it but he played up to try and apologize in a manner he normally would.
"Well look who decided to man up and join us. Settle down Al." He handed him a beer before giving one to the others too. "We are all messed up about the shit they are putting us through. I won't apologize for what I said but you know me enough to know I wouldn't anyways."
He pops the top of his own beer and takes a sip, eyeing Al who seems to be debating but then does the same and nods to Peter. "No you wouldn't. I'm not weak though." Al tries to puff out his chest but his words still come out in a whine.
Peter internally rolls his eyes while Molly and Drew snort. "Like we've been saying, then prove it. Man up and take what you want. That will show the leaders you belong here."
Peter's hands clench the can but he doesn't say anything as he uses the chance to listen and take a drink so he doesn't spout off something.
In the end it is a lot of bullshit talk but he sees the spark behind Molly's eyes. She is up to something and before long she says she needs to go to the bathroom and disappears.
Peter is torn. Should he go after her or stay here where the threat is. She won't do anything to Tris, they want Al to do the work for them. Decision made he stays put.
When she makes her way back up to the roof she is grinning like cheshire cat. "Perfect time Al. Time to put up or shut up. Tris is in the training room again so it would be the perfect time to make your move. We will even help you if you want. Won't we boys? Wouldn't it be perfect to see the stiff get what she deserves?" Her voice is evil and oily as she addresses Peter and Drew.
Over his fucking dead body, Peter thinks but he shrugs and pastes on his cruel smile. "I am up for the ride." He slurs his words purposely to make it seem like he is drunk. Al wouldn't believe he is just going to go for it if he were stone cold sober.
He doesn't have to pretend too hard though because Al is pretty drunk himself. Judging by the puffed out chest and smile on his face to go along with his bleary eyes he is agreeing with the plan.
Peter knows he has a decision to make and it needs to be fast. As they make their way down the corridors he suggests that showing their faces wouldn't be smart. Molly pauses in thought but agrees. So they go to find masks and while they do that Peter slips off to find Four.
It takes longer than he would like and the two have to practically race to get to the training room. They were almost too fucking late. Al had Tris hanging over the Chasm because apparently it had turned into a fight when Tris let a few punches fly lose. The drunk asses had become angry and decided that she just needed to go. It was probably Molly's plan all along.
Four took care of Drew and Molly while Peter was trying to pull Tris back up. Al had run but he had gotten a few good punches off on him. Tris hadn't wanted to go to leadership at first but that was solved by Eric materializing.
"This isn't your decision to make Stiff. They attacked and tried to kill you. There are witnesses and proof. The matter is out of your hands. You may not want to seem like you are weak but allowing them to stay is weakening us. They are out and are lucky I am not putting a fucking bullet into their brains." Eric ground out, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face.
They were at the clinic where Tris was taken, after almost having to carry the stubborn stiff, to be checked out. She was fine and he was impressed with her resolve to not show weakness. She was still a bit mouthy but if she kept improving and showing that steel in her spine he wouldn't mind having her in leadership if that was where it was headed for since she had been in the top spot. That meant though, that as much as she might want to handle things on her own, she needed to learn that these rules needed and must be followed for the good of the faction.
Tris sighed with thinned lips and nodded. "Understood Sir." She simply replied after sharing looks with Peter and Four. She couldn't tell Peter to step up and report things to get Molly and Drew out of Dauntless but then not do the same herself. It was her pride that was hurt right now and letting that rule her decisions. "I understand it is necessary and better for our faction this way. I won't let my own pride and stubbornness get in the way of that tonight or hopefully again."
Eric nodded approvingly as well as the other leaders. They left soon after as they needed to start the process of punishing the three and sending them on their way.
Peter and Four helped Tris back to the dorm. It was reluctant on Four's part but Tris had insisted and Peter said he would help to keep watch on her.
Later during the interviews and the meetings with leaders it was revealed things to those investigating the incident; details that had Eric and Four both thinking deeply about the initiation process, testing and the future of Dauntless in general.
During all three interviews with the former Candor initiates it was revealed that none of the three had gotten Dauntless as an aptitude. On all three they didn't have any real desire to be in Dauntless either. All three had gotten Candor as their aptitudes and all three seemed to have chosen to leave for the same reason. It was a well known fact that in Candor during their initiations they would have been subjected to several weeks of being under the truth serum. During these sessions their deepest darkest truths and secrets would be revealed.
They had each determined separately that they would rather leave than face those. Al would rather leave than admit to his friends and family that remained that he had not only thought of hurting women but that he had been very close to it several times. He had transferred to Dauntless, he said, because he thought that going to the place where he would be a protector would help him get rid of those feelings.
Eric and Four knew what he wasn't admitting to himself though. He had hoped that going to a place known for violence and brutality would give him the opportunities to do just that. Eric never wished to be able to execute someone as much as he longed to do the former Candor. Because he also knew those urges were just going to grow when he went to the factionless...and there would be no one to stop him from acting them out this time.
