I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! I made it half way through the chapter when I moved to Montana! I have been using my free time to adjust and get settled since I will be living here for the next year or so. I have a job now and I will be getting a second job in a few weeks so my writing time will be limited for a bit but after the month of June and in the middle of July I will be going back to having one job and I will have more time to write during the day!

Thank you all so much for your patience!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Divergent series or any of it's characters except for my OCs. Tonya and Ryu belong to my friend ChaosChick21!

Chapter 6) Cruel Methods

Eric

Something wasn't right.

Something was...wrong.

The halls of Dauntless seemed different; vacant, almost, to Eric as he made his way to his office. His steps echoed as he walked, his posture straight and his head high, but no one would be able to tell that his mind was a tangled mess full of confusion and uncertainty.

Trickster was worried.

Trickster was scared.

No, she was terrified.

He had seen her scared before but he had never seen her terrified. It was a look that he didn't like seeing; a look that didn't belong on her face.

He needed to know. He needed to know why.

But he didn't have all the facts.

Think Eric, think.

She had first started acting afraid ever since her mock fight with another Dauntless member, that young man named Rowan. Had the fight scared her? Had he been too rough with her? No, that wasn't it, but her fear appeared right afterwards.

After her encounter with Rowan. Did she know him? Had she met him before? Did he harass her at some point in the past?

You know his face...

Eric paused in the hallway and his eyes widened as he stared ahead of him. The realization hit him like a wall of cement.

You KNOW his face!

Eric changed direction, heading towards the security room instead of his office. He needed answers and now he knew how to get some.

People moved out of the way as he passed them, his whole body rigid as he forced himself to remain calm, but no one made an advance or spoke a word to stop him. He would have ignored them anyway.

It only took him two minutes to make it to the security room, the three men manning the computers oblivious to his entry until he spoke up. "I need access to the records."

All three of them jumped, swiveling their chairs around to face him, but after a moment only one stood to address him. The man was an inch shorter than Eric, shaved head with tattoos crawling up his neck from beneath the collar of his long sleeved shirt, and bright green eyes that were full of surprise at his sudden arrival. He had one piercing on the upper part of his ear and Eric immediately thought of Trixie but forced that thought from his mind as soon as it arrived.

"Sure thing," the man nodded as he gestured to a lone desk in the corner of the room with three small moniters hanging on the wall, making it easier for a person to see if they were standing. He sat in the chair and logged into the system, the screens lighting up as he accessed the records database. "What exactly are you looking for, sir?"

Eric leaned forward, resting his hand on the desk, and replied, "I need everything we have on a member named Rowan. He passed initiation about a year ago."

The man nodded and typed away furiously at the keyboard as various files and photos popped up on the screen. Suddenly a profile picture appeared, showing a younger version of Rowan with a full head of hair without the side shaved, and surprisingly he was wearing glasses. Interesting.

"Pull up his final scores."

The man nodded and pressed a couple of buttons before a small chart came on the screen and Eric leaned forward to read the small print detailing his initiation process. What he read confused him.

His scores were horrible, almost too low to be considered acceptable, and his final score showed that he was one point above the passing grade.

"This doesn't make sense." The man murmured next to Eric, zooming in to see the chart better.

"What is it?" Eric urged him to explain.

The tech adjusted the screen so it showed only the scores in number form and pointed at them. "The scores...they don't add up right."

Eric looked at the inidividual scores of each trial before adding them up in his head and realized that the man was indeed correct; the numbers didn't add up to the final score that was inputted in the system.

"Is it possible that there was a mistake made in the calculations?" He asked the tech but the man shook his head.

"It's unlikely. The system wouldn't make this kind of mistake. The only way for this to be possible is if it was put in manually but only a few selected have access to the scores during initiation."

Eric straightened up and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Interesting."

The man began typing again, pulling up different pieces of information they had on Rowan during initiation, but Eric stopped him.

"See if Rowan has any family in Dauntless."

Nodding, the tech typed up the new search and the screen lit up a second later.

"Got it. He has a brother."

A picture of a burly looking man with brown cropped hair and a light beard came up on the screen next to Rowan's picture. His expression was emotionless and he had a vertical scar over his left eye.

"Is there any way know who had access to the initiation scores?" Eric asked him.

Wordlessly the man searched the system for the records from last year, pulling up a list with names and pictures of you logged in during the initiation, and sure enough Rowan's brother was on the list.

Eric figured it was certain that the brother must have changed Rowan's score during initiation so that he would pass but as to when he had a chance to do this was a mystery; after all the log in date showed that the score was changed right after the initiation process and not during. Which meant Rowan should have become Factionless. But he wasn't.

"Send everything you have on these brothers to my office through a locked file so no one can access it but me. Erase all history on this search and keep this to yourself. Do I make myself clear?"

The man stared down at his hands resting on the keyboard and nodded. "Yes sir."

"Good."

Eric turned and went to walk away when he paused and added, "One more thing,"

The tech remained still, showing that he was listening.

"Send me Rowan's medical records from last year as well."

...

Four

For the next couple of days, Trixie walked around as if in a daze, and when someone approached her to ask if she were alright she would flinch away in fear. Tonya, Nala, and Ryu were the only ones she felt comfortable enough to let a portion of her guard down when they were around. However, her strange behavior wasn't unnoticed by her friends, and Ryu mentioned this to Four a few times in hopes that he would know what to do. He didn't.

Four himself noticed Trixie's odd behavior and remembered the only other time she acted this way was after what had happened the year before. Even when she had been locked away in her room to recover and he had been there with her, she would lay on her side and stare at the wall in a daze, but would flinch everytime she heard something or felt someone touch her.

The way she was acting now was the same way she had acted back then.

It didn't take him long to come to the possibilty that she had run into her attacker some time around the match.

When had it happened though?

And why hadn't she come to him?

Too many questions ran through his head and he wanted nothing more than to approach her himself so he could get answers. But something stood in his way.

"I think you're overreacting."

More like a someone.

"Are you sure she isn't just...in a mood? It could be-you know-that time of the month."

Four sighed as he leaned against the railing, watching the sun set from his apartment, and said, "I doubt it. I'ver never seen her act this way except when-"

"She was attacked." Tris finished for him.

He nodded.

Sighing irritably, Tris pulled one of Four's shirts on before coming to stand next to him on the balcony. "Four, I get that you worry for her because of what happened but honestly, you both need to let that go."

Four pushed off the railing to face her directly. "Tris you make it sound like it happened years ago. It only happened last year so of course I'm going to worry over her more than I should. And if anything, she's made more of a recover than I have, and I wasn't even the victim."

"But you still think she is one." Tris stated in a matter-of-fact tone, her arms crossed at her chest.

"I don't think she's a victim," Four bit out, becoming increasingly frustrated with his girlfriend, "I just don't want her to become one again."

"Then stop worrying like this and let her work this out by herself. It's possible she's just worried about her next match or the second phase of initiation. We all got nervous about that."

"Yeah but that's the thing Tris; she isn't nervous, she's terrified. And it isn't because of the initiation trials. It's something else."

Four was trying to express his concern as simply as he could but the look on Tris' face told him she didn't believe him.

And deep down he knew why.

Tris didn't like Trixie.

It wasn't anything personal but Tris had always been suspicious of Trixie's relationship with Four. While they had all grown up in Abnegation, Four and Trixie grew up as friends, and shared at bond that stronger than friends but wasn't always seen as sibling affection. While Four did care about Trixie as if she were his family, there were times where he went out his way to do things that not all siblings did for each other.

For one, they had kissed before. It was a while back when Four had passed his initiation. He and Trixie were sitting in the rafters over the training area, despite Four's protest, and were talking about mushy stuff when Trixie had confessed that she hadn't been kissed yet. At the time she had been twelve so it was understandable but Four had also confessed that he hadn't had his first kiss yet, so they made a deal to be each other's first kiss just to get it over with.

And two, they had slept in the same bed, but that was because Trixie had had a nightmare and Four felt compelled to calm to her down and offer his comfort. Sometimes when Four thought about it, he could still feel what it was like to have his body curled around her small one, and her hands felt tiny when she had clutched the arm wrapped protectively around her waist. While it wasn't sexual or anything, it felt more intimate than any other moment they'd shared, and it was mostly likely because it was the first time he had touched her and she hadn't flinched.

There were other times but those two moments stuck out in his mind because he knew Tris was using those as reasons not to trust Trixie and Four to be alone together at all.

But that wasn't his fault, or Trixie's.

Tris could only blame herself honestly. Despite the constant affection he gave her and the long periods of time he went without communicating with Trixie, Tris didn't trust him, and it was sad to say that Four was getting used to it. But he loved her too much to break it off and he knew she loved him just as much in return.

While most people couldn't make it in a relationship without trust, they were certainly going to try.

Four just hoped he wouldn't lose others that he loved in the process.

...

Tonya

"Don't you think you're throwing...a little too hard?"

Tonya looked at Nala from the corner of her eye with a small glare and the smaller girl immediately looked away, deciding that Tonya most definitely was not in the mood for a conversation.

And she was right.

Tonya had woken up in a foul mood upon discovering that Trixie was already gone. The raven-haired girl had been near silent the past couple of days, not involving herself in any of their conversations, and when she was asked a question it was answered in so few words Tonya could count them on one hand.

It was infuriating.

In Tonya's mind, if someone had a problem then it was understandable for them to try and solve it by themselves first before asking for help; Tonya was the same way at times. However this was different.

Trixie was afraid to face her problem-whatever it was-and didn't seem on planning to face it anytime soon.

Naturally, Tonya wanted to know what it was, but she was better at keeping her curiosity to herself unlike Ryu and Nala. They had pestered Trixie with endless questions, asking to know what was wrong with her and if there was anything they could do to help, but Trixie denied there being anything wrong at all.

That's such bulshit...

If there was one thing Tonya hated, it was being lied to; especially when the lie was extremely obvious.

THUNK!

Her knife embedded deeply into the head of her target.

She ignored the concerned look Nala was giving her and reached for another knife, reeling her arm back to throw it, but paused when someone entered the training room.

Trixie.

Her friend looked as if she hadn't slept in days. She was still wearing clothes from the day before and the dark circles under her eyes made her look sick.

Nala perked up a bit at seeing there friend but Tonya's eyes narrowed at the dazed look in Trixie's eyes. It was like she had no idea she was even in the room.

Trixie was walking towards them slowly, her steps even but without direction, and Tonya grew worried with the idea of her being anywhere near knives if she was in such a state.

Tonya grew even more worried when Trixie failed to hear Nala's call, trying to get her attention, and felt a shriek build in her throat as she watched her walk close to one of the targets right as another initiate threw his knife.

As if in slow motion, the knife sailed through the air, going off course due to the lousy control of the boy who was throwing it, and went straight for Trixie who was looking up as it came towards her face-

Only to be caught by a pair of hands only a few centimeters away from the tip of her nose.

Everyone in the room froze, including Trixie who's eyes were wide with shock as she stared at the tip of the knife before slowly looking at the person who had just saved her.

With the knife clasped between his two hands, Eric stared back at Trixie with such fury Tonya was positive the fire in his eyes could burn down a building, and his expression showed his disgust as plain as day with the fact that Trixie had been walking around so carelessly without any regard for her safety in such a dangerous setting.

That was something that Eric hated with all of his being; the carelessness others could show when they knew better.

Trixie's lips moved but no words came out. She seemed to be struggling with what to say and that only made Eric more angry.

"You will not be participating in today's training session with the rest of the initiates; instead you will wait until training is over and work through evening meal time with me as your instructor. I will not accept failure is that understood?"

The tone in Eric's voice gave no room for resistance or decline so Trixie merely lowered her gaze to the floor and nodded.

He stared at her hard for a few more seconds before turning his back and walking away, his hands clenched so tightly at his side Tonya was positive the skin would split on his knuckles.

He was livid.

Tonya watched him go and couldn't stop herself from thinking that there were only a handful of times she had seen him that upset.

But it was never over something like this.

So why?

...

Trixie

"Again."

Trixie inhaled deeply through her nose before picking up a small knife and taking position, throwing it as hard as she could, but felt her heart sink as it embedded itself on the target board even further from where her last throw had landed; a couple inches to the right of the head.

Missed again.

Of course it had to be knife throwing...

Out of knives, Trixie moved over to her target and yanked each knife out that managed to stick before bending down to pick up the rest off the floor.

She turned and walked back towards the table, setting the knives down on the flat surface, then moving back to where she was standing before. She waited for Eric's next instruction, telling her to pick up a knife again, and did as she was told and threw the knife again but adjusted her aim right as she released.

It went way off course, flying down south, and landing with a hard THUNK in the crotch of her target.

Ouch...

She heard Eric exhale behind her, no doubt annoyed with the lack of progress they had made in the past hour, and wondered if he was sick of training her and would let her go for the night.

Not a chance.

"You're not trying." He stated.

"Believe me, I am," Trixie countered instantly.

"Don't test my patience," He growled out with annoyance, "Because believe me you don't want to see it run out."

Trixie paused for three seconds before sighing defeatedly, "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me to be honest. I can't just...snap into combat mode like you can. My mind doesn't work that way."

She turned to look at Eric, who was standing a few feet behind her, and found him staring at her with a contemplative look.

"Wait here." He finally told her before turning around and heading for the exit, his body becoming a shadow when he stepped out from under the few lights he had turned on when they first arrived; his steps echoed so loud it made the hairs on Trixie's arms stand up.

She waited until the door slammed shut before sighing, turning back to her target board that seemed to be taunting her with her failure.

What is wrong with me?

She picked up another knife and continued to practice, going over Eric's instructions in her mind as she moved into her stance and aimed, but sighed in defeat when she missed. Again.

She didn't stop though.

She kept at it, doing her best to not overthink the process as she threw knife after knife, and did a small mental cheer whenever she managed to hit the board close to where she wanted. That wasn't often though.

Trixie was well into her third round when Eric returned. He was holding a pair of gloves in one hand and a thin gray folder was tucked under his arm. When he was close enough he held the gloves out for her to take while he set the folder on the table. "Try these on." He told her when she took them from him, crossing his arms in that intimidating way that he did.

Trixie blinked. She hated when he did that; his arms were quite distracting when they were...flexed that way and part of her guessed he knew that.

God he's such an arrogant jerk.

A macho arrogant jerk but still-

Trixie felt her cheeks get warm at that thought and she immediately distracted herself by slipping on the gloves and holding her hands out to examine them better. The material was a thin leather that stretched comfortably around each of her fingers and only came down to the middle of her palm. She used the strap on the back of her hand to adjust the tightness until she was positive they wouldn't fly off her fingers mid-throw. She doubted they would though.

"Your grip slips on the knife when you throw," Eric explained to her. "These will help you keep a tighter hold on them."

She nodded in understanding and picked up another knife, feeling the immediate difference.

Eric took a step back and ordered, "Start again."

Trixie slipped into her stance and took a deep breath before throwing, her grip on the knife better than it had been, and she had to keep from jumping with joy when it landed an inch away from where she wanted it to go which was the heart. She turned to him with a triumphed smile but he shook his head.

"Again." He ordered.

This continued for another hour. While Trixie made significant improvement, Eric didn't seem like he would be satisfied until she could hit every vital point with perfect accuracy.

He told her to aim for the heart, she would hit it an inch or two off target.

He told her to aim for the head, she would hit the throat.

She was making progress but it wasn't enough. Not for Eric.

"This is turning out to be a waste of my time." He growled out and ran his fingers throw his hair, making some of the neatly combed back strands fall in his eyes as he moved to where she was standing at the table. Looks like he had reached the end of his patience.

He yanked the knife Trixie was holding out of her hand and held it up right in front of her face, nearly making her go cross-eyed.

"You aim to throw and you throw to kill." He told her coldly before throwing the knife himself. It landed directly in the heart of target board, wobbling a bit from the force of the throw, but sticking an inch or two deep nonetheless.

He looked from the target board to Trixie, his eyes hard with killer intent. "That's how you throw a knife."

His breath fanned her cheeks and she felt herself flush when she realized that the space between them was a mere few inches and she turned away, her fists clenched tightly at her sides as she looked down at the table where the knives lay, and she tried to speak, "I get that-"

"No, you don't." Eric rudely interrupted her, grabbing the folder, and storming around the table over to the target board. He pulled out a single piece of paper and let the now empty folder drop to the floor. He then ripped out the knife he'd thrown out of the target board before slamming the piece of paper over the area where the face would be and pinned it there with the small blade.

When Eric stepped away from the board, Trixie felt her body turn cold and her heart drop.

The piece of paper pinned to the target board was actually a picture.

A picture of Rowan.

Her skin crawled and she looked at Eric. His face gave away nothing of what he was thinking and-if Trixie was completely honest with herself-she didn't want to know. No matter what he was trying to accomplish with her, it was not worth this.

He jerked his head towards the target board and said, "Throw it."

She shook her head frantically," I can't-"

"Do it." Eric ordered harshly.

Trixie hesitated before slowly picking up a knife, clenching it tightly in her hand, staring at Rowan's picture as she tried to control the whirlpool of emotions raging inside her mind. She lifted the knife and tried to aim but found her hands shaking horribly.

She couldn't do it.

While it probably wasn't his intention, Trixie couldn't help but feel as if she were being forced to face her past, and she wasn't ready. She didn't know if she would ever be ready.

If she were to become Dauntless, she knew she would have to face her fears, but this...this was too much.

She wasn't ready.

Lowering the knife, she looked at Eric, and shook her head. "I won't do it."

Trixie turned away and headed for the exit.

"He hurt you."

She froze.

"He almost beat you to death."

Stop it...

"He tried to rape you."

Don't...

She could feel her whole body shaking as she listened to Eric's footsteps come closer and stop near the table.

"If you can't even muster the strength to face a piece of paper, then you're dead against a person."

I know that!

Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes but she kept her mouth shut so she wouldn't make a sound. She wouldn't cry here.

Not in front of him.

Not Eric.

Anyone but Eric.

If she cried in front of him, his words would only hurt more, and make her feel even worse than what she already felt about herself. She knew she had to learn this but...

I can't do it!

Eric took abother step towards her. "If he finds you again..."

Another step. "If he gets you alone..."

Stop it.

One more step. "He will try again...And he will succeed. No one will save you this time."

"That's not true." Trixie whispered harshly. Despite how shaky her voice sounded, she was surprised that she could even speak.

She could feel Eric's eyes burning at her back. "Prove me wrong."

Shut up...

"Prove me wrong." He repeated stronger.

Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!

"Prove me wrong!"

With a scream, Trixie whirled around and threw the knife with every ounce of power she had. Eric barely had time to turn his body and lean out of the way as it flew past him and landed on the target board, embedding itself deep between Rowan's eyebrows.

Trixie stared at the board for only a moment longer before turning and heading for the door with every intent to leave this time. She could hear Eric follow quickly behind her and she barely made it to the door when she was grabbed and forced against the wall, Eric's hands gripping her upper arms so tight the blood flow stopped.

She refused to look at him, instead choosing to look at their feet, but Eric shook her and forced her to meet his gaze.

He looked ready to say something but he stopped, the look on his face changed upon seeing her red face and teary eyes.

They stared at each other, Trixie's eyes pleading with him to let her go, but his seemed to be searching for something.

What he was hoping to see she had no idea and she didn't care; all that she wanted was to run.

After a minute, Eric's gaze seemed to soften the tiniest bit, and his grip loosened on her arms. He slowly released her and took a step back, allowing her to take the chance to push the doors open and run. She didn't turn to see if he followed.

...

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK?!

I'M NOT GONNA LIE THIS WAS A BIT INTENSE EVEN FOR ME LOL

I thought about making them kiss in the end there but then I figured it was too early so...SORRY GUYS NO KISS YET LOL

***I have something I need your help deciding on though. I got a few messages asking if there was going to be a love triangle between Trixie, Eric, and Four. I need to know if you guys would want that? LET ME KNOW THROUGH A MESSAGE OR A REVIEW! If you want it, I'll do it :)***

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I will get to work on the next one right away!

FAVORITE, FOLLOW, AND REVIEW!

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD REVIEW PEOPLE! IT DRIVES ME TO WRITE FASTER!

~CoolCat0720