Hey guys, sorry it took so long! I've been god awful busy with both jobs and I had this chapter planned, but literally no time or energy to sit and write. So here it is, I hope you like it! I'll get to work on the next few chapters soon!

After Myra and Kailey had worked on Kailey's punches for another 20 minutes, they were both quite tired, and headed out from the training area to their dorms to shower quickly and grab some lunch. Myra stood under the hot water, letting it soothe out her sore muscles, and washed her body off. She didn't bother washing her hair, seeing as they had training again this afternoon. Sighing, she turned off the water and grabbed her towel. Myra dressed quickly and was soon joined by Kailey. They made their way to the cafeteria and saw that it was relatively empty of their co-initiates, but there were a few. Myra looked at Kailey, giving her a questioning look, asking with her eyes if they should join. Kailey looked skeptical, but shrugged her assent. They walked over and stood next to a young man with black skin, and a girl with abnormally pale skin and red hair who both looked up at them. Myra spoke, "Hey guys, I'm Myra, this is Kailey, can we join you?" The boy and the girl exchanged a look before smiling and nodding. The pale girl spoke, "Hey, I'm Serena, formerly of Erudite. It's nice to meet you." Myra smiled at her and turned to the young man, who introduced himself next. "Hey, I'm Caleb. I'm from Amity." Myra took a closer look at his face, but had a hard time placing it. It was a large city after all. She smiled at them both, "It's nice to meet you guys. How are you guys feeling after this morning?" She asked as she dug into a plate of grilled chicken, vegetables and grains. They both laughed and winced, Serena rubbing her arms, "Man I didn't know I was able to hurt this bad!" Caleb grimaced good naturedly, "Yea, and we still have 2 more hours of training this afternoon…man I don't know how we'll make it!" They all groaned in shared misery, laced with a sort of excitement. After finishing their lunch, Myra asked the group what they were planning on doing with their remaining free time, and laughed when told by Serena and Caleb that they were going to nap. It sounded appealing, but she knew she needed to be alert, and taking a nap now would only leave her groggy. Kailey just shrugged, "What did you want to do?" Myra watched Serena and Caleb leave the cafeteria, and then turned back, "How about we go check out the Pit and see where they do tattoos?" Kailey made a face, but stood and nodded her assent.

"Do you want to get a tattoo?" Myra asked Kailey as they looked at countless designs down in the Pit parlor. "No. I don't want one until I know for sure that I've made it" Kailey answered quietly. Myra looked at her sharply, and then turned her attention back to the tattoo designs before speaking, "You'll make it. You just need to find the reason you chose Dauntless and fight for that reason." She saw Kailey go still out of the corner of her eye and decided to let her think on that, moving away to look at other designs. Flipping through design books, Myra finally came across a tattoo that she knew was perfect. She picked up the book and took it over to the man sitting beside the chair, and asked, "Can I have this please?" He assessed her choice and nodded, "Where would you like it?" "My wrist please" Myra held out her right wrist. He nodded again and indicated for her to sit down. Myra handed him the book, and sat, closing her eyes. She heard him prepping, and then the sound of the needle. She jumped ever so lightly when the needle touched her skin, and then her eyes flew open for a moment when a hand grabbed hers, her eyes flicked up to see Kailey by her side, smiling down at her. Myra smiled her thanks, squeezed Kailey's hand, and closed her eyes again. It wasn't the worst pain she had ever felt. She had broken her wrist when she was 9, and that had been far, far worse. It was simply….not fun. After about thirty minutes the needle shut off and the man spoke, "All done, take a look." Myra opened her eyes and looked down at her wrist to see a perfect ship wheel compass. It had struck her when she saw it; the wheel providing a means of changing direction, the compass always guiding. She would never be lost. She could always fly free. She smiled softly when she saw it. "It's perfect, thank you" she said, smiling up at the man. He smiled back at her, "Give your name at the desk and the credits will be deducted from your account. Glad you like it." Myra stood and went to the desk, doing as the man had told her.

She and Kailey headed back upstairs to the training area, they were expected for training shortly and didn't want to be late. They were among the first in the room, and so they sat on the edge of the sparring ring, chatting quietly about their new friends, Serena and Caleb, and whether they would be able to stay friends. Myra and Kailey went quiet as the rest of the initiates filtered into the room, followed closely by Eric and Four. Eric and Four were discussing something in a heated manner, until Eric's eye caught Myra's, at which point his conversation broke off and he spoke to the room. "All right initiates! Shut up! It's time to start working those legs. Go back to your bags and practice doing front kicks until we tell you to switch." Everyone scurried into position, not wanting to draw Eric's eye to them, seeing that he was in a foul mood.

Myra and Kailey stuck close to each other once again, but were pleasantly surprised when they were joined by Serena and Caleb. They all shared a quick smile before going to work on their kicks. They all worked steadily on their kicks, switching legs over time, receiving instruction from Four and Eric when needed. "All right guys I want you to do combo punch-kicks" Four called out. Myra wiped her face off, suppressing a groan, her whole body was tired, and she knew they weren't close to being done yet. She began combo punch/kicks on her right side until she couldn't continue and then switched to her left side. She was quite tired when Eric called out, "Stop initiates! Line up facing each other!" Myra and Kailey quickly moved to face each other, sharing a tired smile. Eric walked down the middle of the row, "You will now practice on each other your strikes and kicks until we tell you to stop. Right side goes first." Myra saw Kailey swallow nervously, and raise her arms to begin striking. Myra blocked her strikes easily, but sucked in her breath when one of Kailey's kicks connected with her ribs. "I'm sorry! Are you ok?!" Kailey whispered. Myra nodded, indicating for her to continue. They continued until they were told to change the person striking. Myra began striking at Kailey, easily breaking past her defense to knock her back. Myra was frustrated, and pulled her strikes back. She suddenly felt a presence behind her, and knew it was Eric. "Don't pull your punches. If she can't handle it, that's her fault not yours" he spoke over her shoulder. Myra still continued to hold back, until Eric stepped between her and Kailey, grabbing her fist, stopping her punch completely. He nudged Kailey backwards, "Watch how it should be done initiate." He faced Myra and stood in the guard position, "Let's go."

Myra assessed him for a moment and began to strike at him, not overly hard, but steadily. He blocked her punches, one after the other. Myra studied his form, watching his shoulders, core and arms. She decided to break up the momentum and throw a kick towards Eric's knee, which he promptly dodged and came back at her with a kick to her thigh. Myra stiffened her leg, absorbing the blow, wincing. She and Eric began trading punches and kicks until Four walked up, "Enough Eric". They continued for another moment until Myra landed a hard right hook to Eric's face and Four stepped between them to prevent him from retaliating. "Enough Eric" Four said, laying a hand on his arm, pushing him back slightly.

Myra stood, hear heart pounding, her breath coming in steady pants. Her left eye was starting to swell shut from a blow Eric had landed, and the right side of her ribcage was screaming at her. She was pleased to see that Eric had a split lip and a blooming bruise on his right cheek. She might not have done as much damage to him as he did to her, but by God, she had held her own. Eric turned to the initiates, "You guys are done for today. Get out of here. Your scores will be posted at dinner." Myra fled the room with everyone else, thankful that Eric didn't hold her back.

After showering, changing and eating dinner Myra told Kailey that she wanted some alone time and was pleased when the other girl was gracious enough to leave her in peace. Myra made her way to the roof of the Dauntless compound, where they had entered, just a day ago. It already seemed like she had always been here. Myra sat on the edge of the building in the corner, her back pressed against the warm brick, her left eye less swollen after having had some ice applied and some sort of cream from the infirmary. Myra lifted her shirt and looked down at her right side, seeing that it was all a dark purple. Sighing, she lowered her shirt. The nurse in the infirmary had said there were no broken bones, just the usual damage from training. HA!The usual. Myra thought to herself with a small laugh, that quickly turned into a groan of pain. Closing her eyes, Myra sat, absorbing the last of the sunlight, wondering how she would make it through training tomorrow, wondering why Eric had chosen her to work his frustration out on. Myra heard soft footsteps on the gravel on the rooftop and sighed. She had wanted to be left in peace, but apparently someone had other ideas.

"You know, someone could easily throw you off the roof if you aren't paying attention, initiate." Myra opened her eyes slowly, suppressing her surprise to hear Eric's voice. "What makes you think I didn't hear you coming?" she asked. "What makes you think I couldn't prevent you if I tried?" Eric asked with a ghost of a smile, sitting down on the ledge across from her. Myra nodded, "True. But I still knew someone else was up here." Eric raised an eyebrow at her, "Really? How?" he asked, doubtful. Myra grinned, "You're hair. You just showered and it still smells like the shampoo you use." Eric sat staring at her, saying nothing, until, "You're a hell of a lot smarter than I expected an Amity to be." Myra smiled at him, "Yea, my dad encouraged me to read."

Eric sat across from Myra, amazed by the young woman. She was bruised by him, and yet she still showed no fear of him. He had let his temper and his jealousy get the best of him. She didn't know, but he had seen her getting her tattoo and he had heard the tattoo artist talking about her afterwards, in a way that he himself probably would have if she was just some girl on the street he didn't know…hell he barely knew her now, and he had wanted to punch the guy. Now he wanted to hold her and tell her he was sorry for hurting her. Whaaaat the hell was going on? She spoke, "You really did a number on my ribs by the way. I don't know how well I'll do tomorrow. I'm going to work as hard as I can, but I don't think I'll do well." She looked worried. Eric thought for a moment and then stood and offered her his hand, "Come on. I've got something for your ribs." The look of surprise on her face was so sweet and innocent it killed him. She put her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet, wincing as her ribs protested. They walked in companionable silence through the Dauntless compound to Eric's quarters. He unlocked his door and ushered her in, nervous at having her in his quarters.

Myra looked around and saw a place that was male, Dauntless, and began to explain to her Eric. There were hand drawn pictures on the wall beside the window, some of animals, some of landscape, and one of….her? Myra stared at it…yea, that was definitely her. She refrained from saying anything, and turned when she heard Eric clear his throat nervously behind her. He held a tube of cream, "This will reduce the swelling and numb the pain. Let's get some on now, and then reapply tomorrow morning, ok?" Myra nodded and walked over to take the tube. Eric pulled his hand back, "Let me. I did this to you. Let me fix it." Myra hesitated, he could see that, he could see she was confused. After a moment she nodded, and lifted her shirt up to just under her breasts and held it there, standing close to him, her eyes locked with his. Eric looked down at her ribs and winced at what he had done. He was trying to teach them to fight, but he had gone too hard, too quickly. "Damn I'm sorry. This must hurt like a bitch" he said as he rubbed the cream over her ribs, his hand gentle. Myra's breathing was shallow and just slightly rapid as she answered, "Uhh, it's ok. I'll handle it." God, the feeling of his hand on me…Myra thought to herself. She was breathing as evenly as possible, and thought that any unevenness could be blamed on pain. Eric had noticed her breathing hitch and speed up when he had been touching her, and he tried not to think about why that could be. It was bad enough he had hurt her, he couldn't think about following through on anything that might, could, possibly, even slightly be occurring here. Eric turned away, grabbing a towel to wipe his hands on. "Thank you Eric. I appreciate it. That already feels better." He heard her voice over his shoulder. He turned back around, to see her studying the picture of herself again. Shhhhhiiiiiitttt….Eric walked over to Myra and handed her the tube of cream. "Remember to apply it again in the morning." Eric walked her to the door, "I'm sorry, again that I hurt you." Myra smiled up at him, reached up to touch the bruise she had left and said, "Hey I kicked your ass too, no worries!" Eric laughed, his heart lighter, "Oh, you kicked my ass huh? Doubtful." Myra smiled wider, "Yea, not really, but you're smiling, and it looks good on you." She leaned up and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. "Night Eric."

Myra turned away and walked quickly away from Eric and headed back through the maze of hallways. HOLY SHIT I JUST KISSED ERIC! Myra was practically yelling in her own head. She wanted to know if she had just made a huge mistake, but that was something only time could tell. Imagining a future of her and Eric, Myra giggled and then pressed her hand over her mouth. Just because he had a picture of her didn't mean he liked her like that….it could just be practice…right? Myra grinned. She had some work to do.

As always, thank you for reading, let me know what you think, and till next time, much love :D