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Eric dropped in the seat next to Four, his expression still as cold as when I first met him. He looked between Four and the rest of the table. "Well, aren't you going to introduce me?"

Four rolled is eyes and sighed. "This is Aidan and Jake," he said, pointing to the two boys. "Kristen, Olivia," Four looked at me last. "and Alex."

"Ah, the Stiff that doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut. You'd figure coming from Abnegation she'd already be acquainted with the concept of keeping her thoughts to herself, no?" Eric's eyes rested on me as he conversated with my brother. His tone was even, no hint of the anger that had graced his face on the roof.

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" Four replied. Were they friends? God I hoped not. Eric talked to Four as if they were, but from what Four had said about him earlier I was sure they weren't.

"We'll see how long she lasts with that mouth of her's," His focus was still on me as I averted his eyes. I felt squirmish under his gaze, I just wanted to get up and get as far away as possible from him. "You wanna tell me what that bruise on your face is from, Initiate?" Eric asked, raising his pierced eyebrow.

I took a quick glance over at my brother before answering. If I had the balls to speak up against Marcus, then speaking up against Eric would certainly be no problem at all. "It's none of your business," was all I said as I took a sip of my juice, making sure to not look in Eric's direction.

"You're in Dauntless now and I'm a Dauntless leader, that makes it my business," he growled. I didn't have to look at him to know the look on his face. I wanted to reach across Four and slap the look off Eric's face. Who does he think he is? The only person who ever put themselves above me was my father and he's gone now. I refuse to let some else think they can take that place over me. I refuse to be intimated anymore.

I placed my cup down on the table, rather harsh, and turned to face the young leader. Four had begun to lean back, hoping to get as far away from this as possible without making it obvious. I could tell by his facial expression he was surprised by my attitude. Truth was, I had always been this way, I'd just learned to hold my tongue in front of my family. That was the Abnegation thing to do, right? I'm Dauntless now, though. Those rules don't apply here. "You wanna know how I got this?" I looked Eric square in the eye. I almost lost my thought in his icy blue eyes before I managed to grab it and spit it out. I felt the eyes of the whole table on me as I began to speak. "I picked a fight with a kid who didn't know how to mind his own damn business and stop asking questions he didn't need to know the answers to."

"Alex…" Four hissed a warning. I understood the nature of his warning as I saw the anger rise through Eric's face.

"If there's one thing you'll learn here Initiate, it's how to keep your mouth shut!" He growled. "I let what happened on the roof slide, but you better watch yourself! I've punished people for a lot less… As a matter of fact, I want you in the training room an hour earlier tomorrow. And if you're not there I'll drag you out of bed myself," He got up with a scowl on his face and stomped out of the dinning hall, leaving all eyes resting on me.

"What a baby…," I muttered. Four grabbed my arm and dragged me from my seat and into the hall. Since it was lunch time, nobody was left lingering in the halls because they were all eating.

"Have you lost your mind?! Where the fuck did that come from? Huh?" His tone was harsh, but not loud. He stood there a few moments, waiting for an answer, but didn't receive one. "I literally just told you not to piss him off anymore than you already had!"

"If I can deal with Marcus I can deal with Eric," I snapped. I didn't need him to baby me anymore. I had to live a year with that monster without the protection of Tobias.

"No, Eric is nothing like Marcus," He choked a bit on Marcus' name. "We couldn't fight back against Marcus. With Eric, he'll make you fight back, he likes to watch people struggle and squirm. He's cruel and smart and knows how to hold a grunge. He finds your weak point and doesn't stop pressing it until he breaks you," his tone had gone from enraged to worried.

"I'm tired of people thinking that they can just walk all over me, no more hiding in the shadows and taking the beating. I will fight back and I will defend myself," I pointed my index finger at him. "You left me with him. I learned how to survive without you and I can continue to do so. I don't need you babying me anymore," I crossed my arms over my chest. I could tell by his hurt expression that I hit a nerve, but I needed him to get it through his head.

"I'm not babying you. I'm trying to protect you!" He insisted.

"I don't need your protection!" I argued. "You wanna keep the fact that you're my brother here under wraps? That perfectly fine with me. I don't want people to know me as Four's sister. I want to be know as Alex. I want to be my own person here."

"I understand that," his tone began to lower back to normal. "but I'm still your instructor here. When I tell you to do something, you do it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…," I brushed him off.

"I'm serious, Alexandra. As your instructor I'm tell you this; this may not be Abnegation anymore, but you still need to keep your trap closed here, especially when it comes to the leaders," He lifted my chin so my eyes met his. "I don't know how you went from this quiet Abnegation girl that I knew to this outspoken one, but you need to be carful with what you say and who you say it to, okay?"

"Okay." I nodded. "Once you left, I knew Abnegation wasn't for me. I made Dauntless friends at school and became my own person for once. Granted, I kept my mouth shut around Marcus, but even that didn't last," I explained, motioning to the bruise on my face. I could have sworn I saw the corners of his mouth turn slightly upwards.

"Just be careful," He pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me. It took me a moment to respond. My brother hasn't hugged me since our mother died, and that was years ago. The Abnegation weren't one for physical touch and I never understood why. Being hugged by my brother was the best feeling I'd had in a long time.

He pulled away, smiling at me. Then he turned and walked back down the hall, to where, I don't know. After a few moments of standing there, I made my way back into the dinning hall, taking my place across from Jake and Aidan.

Before anyone could comment on the events that just transpired, I spoke first. "So, you Dauntless boys wanna show me where I can get a tattoo?"

XXX

Most of the time that was spent walking to the tattoo parlor was a quiet. But I could feel the tension and hear the questions bouncing around in their heads. As we made our way down the final stretch of hallway, I heard Jake sigh.

"Do you have a death wish?" He finally asked. His tone wasn't light and casual as usual, it was almost borderline angry.

"No." I firmly stated. I didn't understand why he seemed upset about my outburst against Eric. It had nothing to do with him.

"Oh really? Because it certainly seems like it." He was defiantly upset. He stopped walking, causing Aidan, Kristen, Olivia, and I to do the same.

"What's your problem?" I'd never fought with Jake before, but it seemed like we were headed in that direction.

"My problem is that it seems that every opportunity you get, you have to piss off the cruelest leader in Dauntless ," He barked. It kind of took me off guard. I'd never seen him like this before.

"Trouble in paradise…" Aidan muttered, earning an elbow to the gut from Kristen.

"Your point?" I didn't really understand where he was going with this.

"My point is that I'm worried about you, Alex. You won't make it through initiation if you keep mouthing off to him. I've seen what he's capable of. I'm afraid that you'll say the wrong thing at the wrong time and you'll end up factionless…or dead," His tone had come back to down to what it was before, but mine began to raise.

"Why does everyone feel the need to protect me? Huh? I can handle myself, okay?" I hated this. I appreciated it, but hated hit. They made it seem that if I was made of glass and one tap in the wrong place would shatter me. That wasn't the case and I needed them to realize that. "I need you guys to let me be my own person," I swear I just had this same conversation with Four.

Jake looked over at Aidan, hoping for some back up, but Aidan just shrugged. "I just need you to stay safe and be okay…"

"I'll be fine, I promise," I gave him a reassuring smile. I closed the space between us and wrapped my arms around his torso. He hugged back instantly, resting his chin on this top of my head. This time hugging him wasn't awkward, it felt comforting.

"Let's go get you tatted up," He joked, pulling away.

"And maybe pierced," Aidan suggested.

Once we made it to the parlor, the sound of busing needles surrounded me. I made my way over to the wall with dozens of different designs on it. A majority were of Dauntless symbols.

"This one," Jake said, pointing to one in the far corner. It was a mix of a tribal pattern and flames. I smiled as I looked at him. I knew exactly where I wanted it too. Olivia went and got a tattoo artist and was back in a few minutes. I pointed to the one that Jake picked.

"Okay, where do want it?" She asked. Her name was Tori I believe?

"On my side," Jake and Aidan looked at me like I was crazy.

"That's one of the most painful spots, Alex. Defiantly not a good choice for your first tattoo," Aidan informed me.

"I don't care, I just want it to cover this," I said, lifting my shit. A scar the length of my left side was imprinted in my skin. I saw the looks on both of their faces drop. They knew what it was from. Kristen and Olivia just saw it as any old scar. But to me it was reminder of my father that I didn't want.

I got it the day of Tobias' Choosing Ceremony. Marcus was so enraged that my brother had left. I knew as soon as his blood dripped into that coal I was going to get beat that night, but for once, I didn't mind, because Tobias was free or him. When we got home, Marcus took off his belt, but instead of using the leather strap he used the buckle. He said it was to teach me that betrayal is a selfish act and that because of Tobias I needed to be taught that.

When he brought the belt buckle down against my skin, the buckle slashed my skin open. After Marcus saw that I was bleeding, he stopped. He realized that the more damage he caused the harder it would be to hide.

"Okay, you got it," Tori said. "Take your shirt off and lay down right here," she patted a table next to her. As I pulled my shirt up and over my head, Jake looked away, like if he looked he would be doing something wrong. I tried not to laugh as I laid down. Taking my shirt off in front of other people was definitely not a comfortable thing, but I brushed aside my discomfort as Tori began to trace the pattern along my side.

XXX

It took serval hours for Tori to complete my tattoo. Jake sat in the chair next to me as he got another tattoo himself. Aidan took Kristen to look at piercing and Olivia just sat their and held my hand as Tori had mad her way over my ribs.

"You're all set," That was probably the best thing I'd heard all day as Tori finished. I stood up and made my way over to a mirror hanging on one of the doors in the parlor. The flames crawled up my side, fitting my figure perfectly. I looked for the scar and couldn't find it. I loved it.

"Thank you, it's perfect," I smiled at Tori and she smiled in return.

"Wow, that thing is bad ass," Aidan commented as he made his way back into the parlor with Kristen who had pierced her left eyebrow.

"It fits you," Jake had just gotten his new tattoo wrapped as he spoke fromm behind us.

"I want my lip pierced too," I looked over at Aidan who smiled. Tori began wrapping my torso and gave me instructions on how to take care of the ink on my side.

"You're going all out, aren't you?" Olivia handed me back my shirt.

"Why not?"

45 minutes later, we made our way back to the initiate living quarters. I was still getting used to the foreign feeling on the left side of my lip as we reached our separating point.

"Good luck with Eric tomorrow," Jake gave me a worried look as we wished each other goodnight.

"Thanks, I'll probably need it," I laughed. He didn't laugh back, but gave me a reassuring smile as him and Aidan made their way to the Dauntless-born accommodations.

Most of the initiates were back, but not all of them. It was pretty late though, and I definitely was going to need my sleep for tomorrow. Olivia and Kristen headed to the dinning hall to get some food, asking me if I wanted anything. I wasn't hungry. I was nervous. I was starting to regret what I had said to Eric. For the first time all day, I thought about what had transpired earlier during lunch. Four said he was cruel and calculating. My stomach flipped at the thought of what he had planned for my punishment tomorrow.

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