Hey guys! I'm so sorry this chapter took me so long to get out. I'm gonna be completely honest with you and confess that I had a hard time writing this chapter and ended up redoing it at least twice because I wasn't satisfied with it no matter how I wrote it; I still think it could have come out better but its MUCH better than how it first came out.
I hope you enjoy this chapter! ChaosChick I hope I portrayed Tonya correctly in this chapter and I can't thank you enough for letting me borrow her for my story! And Ryu as well!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs. Tonya and Ryu belong to the amazing ChaosChick21!
Enjoy!
Chapter 7) Trust Earned
Though she didn't know where her feet would take her, she wasn't surprised when she ended up at the initiates bunker, quietly walking over to the bunk where Tonya lay, and kneeling slowly as she tried to think of a way to wake her friend without getting hit. The last person to just shake her awake received a bruised cheek that lasted for three days. Tonya blamed it on the man who tried to wake her but Ryu believed it to be her reflexes. It wasn't uncommon for a female member to be assaulted when they were most vulnerable but Tonya was more than prepared to handle the situation should it ever arrive.
Trixie hadn't been so lucky the year before.
Doing her best to keep from making a sound, Trixie reached out and poked Tonya's shoulder that was covered by the comforter.
"Tonya?" Trixie whispered as she gently poked her friend once more when she gave no response.
The female stirred, letting out a small groan at being disturbed, and opened one eye.
"Trixie?"
Tonya rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hands before slowly pushing herself up into a sitting position, groaning again as she forced her body to wake up. Once she could see properly in the dark, her gaze coming to rest on Trixie's face, her eyes narrowed a tiny bit at what she saw. Trixie realized Tonya must be able to see that she had been crying. And if she were completely honest, her tears hadn't quite finished yet.
Sighing, Tonya grabbed a pair of black sweats she had left at the foot of her bed and pulled them on before putting on her boots, standing from her bed as she reached a hand out to Trixie to pull her up from her kneeling position.
"Come on, you look like you got something to confess, and this is not the place to do it."
...
Trixie took Tonya to her balcony overlooking the Pit and they sat in silence for a minute or two; Tonya letting her friend gather the courage for whatever she was about to tell her. While she was relieved that Trixie was finally going to tell her what was going on in that mind of hers, she also had a feeling in her gut that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.
Sighing, Trixie folded her arms and rested them against the lower part of the railing, her chin resting in the crook of her elbow as she swung her feet back and forth over the edge, and said, "I guess I owe you an explanation as to why I've been acting weird these past couple of days."
"You don't owe me anything," Tonya quickly answered and leaned back on her hands. "However, if there's something you would like to tell me, I'm listening."
Trixie felt her courage shake and she almost considered backing out entirely so she wouldn't have to deal with the stress of having to explain everything that had happened the year before. But now, things were different. She now faced the danger of meeting Rowan and the possibility of reliving that horrid day of her past. She gripped her arms tightly at that and steeled her resolve. No, she would not face this alone. She was going to need help.
Staring down at the Pit below them, Trixie took a slow breath.
"About a year ago, during the last week of the final phase of initiation, I was...assaulted by three initiates, and nearly killed."
Once the first sentence came out, everything else poured out of Trixie like a waterfall, and every suppressed memory and emotion of that day and what followed after found it's way out of her heart. She told her about the attack and how she was saved. She told her about the nightmares and the fear that kept her in bed for the longest time. She told her about how two of the three men that attacked her were killed and the third one couldn't be found. She even told Tonya about her friendship with Four and how he comforted her in her time of need.
And while some part of her thought it was unfair to suddenly spring all of this on Tonya, it felt so good to finally be free of it all, and she felt as if a small portion of her weight was lifting from her shoulders. It was still hard to tell someone all of these things but it was somehow becoming a tiny bit easier to say.
When she was finished, she waited in silence for Tonya to speak, and glanced at her friend beside her. Tonya was staring straight ahead, everything Trixie had told her was still processing in her mind, and her hands she was leaning back on were balled into tight fists. It was hard to read exactly what she was feeling.
Trixie looked away and stared at the empty Pit beneath them, a handful of people walking around since they had the night to early morning shift. She recognized a few of them but didn't know them personally.
"It was a few years back, not long after Ryu passed his initiation with your buddy Four, and his first job was being your uncle's Assistant Combat Instructor; at least until he was deemed capable enough to work alone."
Trixie's brow furrowed and she turned her body around so that her back was leaning against the railing, sitting parallel to Tonya with her feet pointing in the opposite direction. She looked at Tonya but her friend continued to stare straight ahead, her words sounding a bit strained but she went on.
"I would watch Ryu train with your uncle for hours, constantly getting his ass handed to him, but he improved a lot in a short amount of time; he did so well that your uncle was able to make him a Combat Instructor for Dauntless born initiates the next year."
The memory brought a smile to Tonya's face and Trixie was once again reminded of how much Ryu was very important to Tonya and she always smiled whenever she mentioned him or was conversing with him. Part of Trixie longed to have someone like that for herself.
Maybe one day I will...
The smile quickly left Tonya's face and her eyes suddenly narrowed with anger, "When the new batch of initiates came, Ryu was struggling to get the results he needed, and most of the initiates were either too weak or had their heads stuck so far up their asses they refused to follow the simplest instructions. And while Ryu was strong enough to put them all in line, he didn't want to risk seriously injuring one of them, so he didn't...so...I involved myself."
Trixie's eyes widened and she carefully asked, "What do you mean...you involved yourself?"
Tonya's gaze hardened as she looked down at her lap. "There was one initiate who always challenged Ryu's authority in front of everyone and tried to make him look bad at every lesson. And while there were times Ryu could handle him and keep him in check...it only took a stupid comment about his relationship with me to snap."
"Your relationship?"
Tonya nodded and explained, "At the time, Ryu only ever hung out with me, and he's the only person I trust enough to let my guard down around. All the older members of Dauntless knew we were just looking out for each other but to others who saw a little girl and an teenage boy it looked like...something else. It looked...wrong."
Trixie thought she was going to be sick.
"I had been watching him teach that day when the initiate made that comment and while Ryu was able to restrain himself from hurting the idiot, I wasn't."
Silence ensued as Tonya's words sunk in.
"...How bad was it?"
Tonya gave a forced chuckled, the smile on her face looking sad and cruel, and she answered, "I tore him up so bad he was forced to become Factionless."
Trixie merely nodded, not knowing what to say, but she didn't need to speak when Tonya continued a moment later.
"After that, things seemed to settle down for a time. The initiates were more respectful and listened more to what Ryu had to say when he was training them. And since Ryu took responsibility for what happened so I wouldn't get into trouble, some of the leaders were impressed that he was taking his job seriously, but there was only one person who wasn't impressed in the least."
Trixie gulped and said with a quiet voice, "Eric."
Tonya nodded and went on, "He was the only one who didn't buy Ryu's story; he didn't believe it was Ryu that made the boy Factionless. So one day he came during one of Ryu's lessons and challenged him in front of everyone."
Yes, that sounded like something Eric would do, and Trixie could almost imagine the scene in her mind as if she had been there herself. He would have been younger, just starting out as a leader at seventeen, yet still be as intimidating as he was now. He would have walked into the training room as if he owned it and had every right to be there. He would have reveled in the fear of those who knew who he was and would have loved to show others why they should.
"Ryu, not wanting to cause a scene in front of everyone, turned Eric down and walked away, but then Eric began pestering him and would say to the initiates what a coward he was for not facing him like he faced the initiate. He said he was weak."
Tonya leaned forward, resting her elbows on the railing, her hands clasped tightly together. "Even though he was talking to Ryu, it felt like his words were directed at me. Every insult out of that asshole's mouth was like a blow to what I thought was my pride but I was to young to realize that it was my ego. I felt like I had to prove him wrong and that I wasn't as weak as he was saying. So...I challenged him."
Trixie's jaw dropped to the floor. "You didn't."
Tonya sighed tiredly and nodded, "I did."
For some odd reason, Trixie felt the urge to giggle like a little girl, and but her lip to keep from smiling as she asked, "And that went how...?"
"Well I had no real training and was in way over my head so yeah, I got my ass handed to me." Tonya answered her.
Trixie let out a sigh that sounded very close to a laugh and leaned her head back against the railing and closed her eyes, no longer able to keep the grin off her face. It was by no means funny, but the way Tonya talked about the match as if she were trying not take make a big deal out of it made Trixie realize that her friend was embarrassed about the fact that she had been hot-headed and brave enough to face a leader. If that didn't make someone a Dauntless then she didn't know what did anymore.
"I uh, can't imagine how that must have felt afterwards." Trixie tried to sympathize, but she still couldn't wipe the grin off her face and felt as if she would burst with laughter when she looked over at her friend and saw her pouty expression.
"It was humiliating," Tonya groaned and leaned forward to hit her head against the railing as if it would knock the memory from her mind forever. "I'd never felt more shitty in my entire life or more embarrassed. And he knew it too."
"Yeah he has a habit of making people feel that way." Trixie laughed as she turned to give Tonya a smile but the the young woman already staring at her with a questioning gaze and she asked, "How do you know Eric? Because from the looks of things you guys have some sort of history there."
Trixie shrugged and realized that there was no real way to describe...whatever she had with Eric. He had a strange part in her life that was for sure but he wasn't constant. She would catch of glimpse of him every other day but the times they actually interacted with each other were few and far between. And every interaction always had an effect that left her, well, speechless. But every time she found herself in his presence she felt safe and that was a rare feeling to have in Dauntless; then again there were times where she felt like she was a lamb in the presence of a lion.
A very attractive lion if you-NOPE DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!
Trixie coughed nervously and replied, "I'm not sure how to explain it. He's just been...there at times and, well, that's just how it is; how it's always been."
"Huh," Tonya clicked her tongue as she stared at Trixie hard for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and looking across from them, saying, "Well, whatever you guys got going on, you need to tell him to stop staring at you because, I'm not gonna lie, it looks a bit creepy from time to time."
Tonya's casual tone made Trixie blush and she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them self-consciously and mumbled, "He does not stare at me."
"Denying it only makes it true."
"He doesn't!" Trixie snapped with a furious blush on her face.
"Wanna bet?"
The two girls stared at each other when Tonya's eyes flicked repeatedly between Trixie and something behind her. Brow furrowed in confusion, Trixie leaned forward to move her back off the railing and glanced behind her. Directly across from them on the other side of the Pit was another small balcony much like their own. And just like their's it was occupied.
Eric stood leaning forward with his hands resting on the railing, his eyes focusing intensely on Trixie, and she whipped back around and pressed her face into her knee's with a groan. She must have looked as red as a tomato.
"Still don't believe me?" Tonya teased.
"Shut up."
Tonya chuckled, the dark mood slowly turning light as she turned to look at Eric and questioned with a thoughtful expression, "Do you think if I blew him a kiss, he'd catch it?"
"Tonya!"
Tonya burst into laughter.
...
Thunk!
Tonya whistled next to Trixie as she flipped the knife in her hand and stared at the target board and said, "Well would you look at that. Someone's getting better with their aim. Where'd you get the gloves?"
They were practicing knife throwing again today. Trixie and Tonya were next to one another but Nala had, unfortunately, been moved down a few spaces away from them. Their instructors must have been worried the three of them would stir up some kind of trouble. It wasn't unlikely.
Trixie blushed, thinking about how Eric had given them to her the night before, and coughed, "I-uh-got them to help me with practice."
Taking a moment to focus, Trixie stared at her target board before reeling her arm back and throwing another knife. It flew through the air and landed on the board with a thunk in the area where the heart would be. It wasn't the head but it certainly was better than how she had been doing previously.
Her vague answer didn't satisfy the brunette and Tonya immediately smirked. "I know why you have them, I just wanna know where you got them from."
Trixie picked up another knife, trying to think of an answer that would satisfy her friend yet not give away that she had been with Eric the night before. She hadn't mentioned that part to her.
She went to aim at her target board when there was a small wind of movement behind her. Somehow, Trixie already knew who it was; only one person she knew would invade her personal space without invitation, and her face immediately turned red.
While she was still plenty upset with him about the night before, the heat emanating from his body warmed her back, and she couldn't fight the fact that, despite his cruel methods, he still made her feel safe.
"You show much promise, initiate," Eric whispered in her ear. "Tell me, how does one improve to such a degree overnight?"
Despite having been her instructor, here he was mocking her, trying to gauge a reaction to see what she was feeling no doubt, but Trixie didn't want to give him the satisfaction of showing just how much he got under her skin all the time. And he did. Last night only proved that fact.
Taking a deep breath and staring straight ahead, Trixie replied, "An expert like yourself should already know the answer."
She could practically feel him smirking behind her and he quipped, "Such improvement doesn't mean anything if you can't hit the target while facing the possibility of distraction."
Trixie blinked a few times and swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. What was he going to do?
"Throw it again." Eric instructed her.
Giving a small nod, Trixie picked up another knife from the table, pinching the tip of the blade between her thumb and pointer finger as she stared at the board, and tried to decide where to aim for next.
"Hit the very center of your target." He decided for her.
Trixie gave a small head tilt in agreement. It didn't seem like too hard of a task. But what was he going to do was the question gnawing at the back of her mind. It was indeed a simple area for her to target, no challenge whatsoever, and that wasn't Eric's style.
Slowly, Trixie focused on the very center of of her target, that being in the stomach area of the human outline, and drew her arm back to throw the knife.
Right as she moved her arm to release the knife, Eric was suddenly much closer and blew a small breeze of air into her ear, causing her to jump the tiniest fraction, and misdirecting the throw of her knife.
It whirled threw the air and landed on the target board to the left of her's, nearly taking out the hand of the male initiate who had been pulling his knives out of his own target board. He jumped as it landed with a loud thunk! next to his hand and backed away until he bumped into his table, slamming a hand down to steady himself as he continued to stare at the knife that could have killed him if it had flown an inch more to the left.
Horrified and tremendously embarrassed by her actions, Trixie mumbled an apology to the initiate and waited for the verbal lashing she would no doubt receive from the man. He turned towards her, his expression absolutely furious, and he opened his mouth only a fraction when she felt Eric shift behind her. The initiate glanced at Eric and froze, his expression turning fearful and the color draining from his face. Without speaking a word, he swallowed slowly and turned back to his own target board, setting the knives he'd collected beforehand on his table to organize them.
Trixie breathed out a small sigh of relief and Eric chuckled quietly behind her and whispered, "You should watch yourself there Trickster. If it doesn't take much to make you twitch, I know it won't take much more to make you squirm."
Heat flooded her cheeks and she ducked her head in attempt to hide her flustered expression.
Eric chuckled again before turning away. Trixie didn't move until she heard his steps become faded enough for him to half way across the room and she glanced from beneath her curtain of bangs to see that he was talking to the instructor. She only watched him for a moment before releasing the breath she had been holding and raised her head. Glancing around, Trixie was surprised to see that no one was staring at her; no one was even looking in her direction. Perhaps Eric's presence was more intimidating than she assumed.
She heard a snort and turned to her right to see Tonya's shoulders shaking a small fraction, her lips pressed in a firm line as if she were trying to contain her laughter, and Trixie frowned.
"It's not funny." She mumbled low enough for only Tonya to hear.
Tonya shrugged and flipped the knife in her hand in a lazy manner. "I know I said I hate the man's guts but I have to admit that the way he teases you is quite amusing to watch."
Trixie groaned and set the knife in her hand down on the table, leaning forward on both hands as she pondered the thought that she was the most unlucky female on the planet at the moment.
...
"Alright, we're going start with some of the smaller arms and slowly work our way up." Four explained as he gestured to the long table covered with multiple guns varying in size.
Right as training had ended for the day, Four had come and snagged Trixie for a late night session of weapons training, and by weapons he meant guns. Lots and lots of guns.
They were standing on the roof of a building near the Dauntless compound, the night time bringing chilly air with it, and Trixie exhaled deeply as she wrapped Four's spare jacket tighter around her small body. At the other end of the roof were three targets in different sizes, and spread across the nearby rooftops were other targets that were further away from them. Four had set up construction lights near each of the targets so they could see where they were located despite the dark sky.
Four picked up the smallest gun and held it out towards her. Trixie hesitated before taking it from him and adjusted her grip as she examined it in the low light. It was one of the smaller pistols, more suited for one-handed aim, and making running with it easier. Because of it's small size it didn't appear to pack much power but she could be mistaken.
"Hit each of the targets at least once with each gun and try to shoot as close to the center as possible." Four explained as he pointed to the target boards. "The weapon you do worst with and the weapon you do best with are the ones we will work with first."
Trixie nodded and stepped out from behind the table to stand in front of it. She fixed her stance and raised the small pistol, her arms relaxed and her shoulders back as she focused on the first target that was closest to them. She felt Four move to stand next to her, and a quick glance showed his arms were crossed at his chest and his stance was relaxed. He was waiting for her.
Taking a deep breath, Trixie refocused her gaze on the target, and then squeezed the trigger.
The kickback was small but the sound of the shot was magnified in the silence and echoed across the rooftops. Without pausing to see where her first shot hit, she adjusted her aim accordingly, and squeezed the trigger three more times in quick succession, hitting three more targets near her first one. She moved her aim and shot the rest of the targets spread further out, taking her time to make sure she at least hit each one as close to the center as she could like Four instructed.
Once each of the targets-thirteen Trixie counted-had a single bullet hole, she lowered her gun and turned around to set it on the table before coming to stand next to Four as he pulled a small datapad from within his jacket. Turning it on, his finger swiped across the screen, and they were suddenly looking at her first target. Using his thumb and pointer finger on the screen, Four zoomed in the camera angle close enough to see that her first shot struck the ring closest to the bulls-eye.
"Not bad." Four told her as he rotated between each of the cameras and examined each of her shots. About five of them hit the bulls-eye and the rest came incredibly close. Even Trixie was surprised with herself.
Lowering the datapad, Four jerked his chin towards the table and ordered, "Next one."
Four
This continued for the next hour and a half, Trixie starting off with the smallest guns and slowly working her way up to the larger rifles. For the ones too hard to hold up herself, Four pulled out a small tripod and had her set it up herself to see if she remembered his lesson from the other day. After a minute or so, he chuckled as she finally managed to get it standing without buckling once she went to place the gun atop it, and settled cross-legged beside her as she laid on the ground.
She seemed to do better with the long-ranged weapons he realized. Her accuracy was still pretty impressive with the short-ranged variety but she was on the last rifle, the same one she had used in the training room when they had last done gun training, and her shots were hitting the bulls-eye every time she pulled the trigger. Yup, definitely a sniper.
"I gotta say, I didn't think your results were going to be this good." He confessed as they looked over the zoomed in camera angles of her most recent shots. The grouping was nice and none of her shots had gone out of the second ring closest to the circle.
"I guess I have my uncle to thank for the extra practice." She told him as she worked on taking apart the tripod.
The statement, while it was supposed to sound glad, sounded soft and sad, and Four immediately sighed. Her uncle was never a happy topic.
It was a good thing he brought a surprise.
"Hold on." He called out to her as she went to head for the door that would lead them back inside.
Pausing in her steps, Trixie turned around and watched Four move towards the edge of the roof, and it was then that she noticed another large duffel bag that had been sitting next to a pile of old plywood. He hefted the bag onto his shoulder and brought it over to where the table was, setting it on the ground as Trixie came to a kneel beside him. Unzipping the bag revealed a large case that was usually used to store larger rifles, like the one she had just fired not minutes ago. There was a small keypad between the two safety locks and he typed in a six digit password before they unlatched with a click. Very slowly, he opened the case, and watched Trixie's jaw practically hit the floor.
Inside was a huge sniper rifle and it was a model Trixie had never seen before. The body itself wasn't as big as the rifle she had just used but its barrel was much longer and it's scope looked as if it was designed for greater distance. It had it's own shoulder strap and a detachable mini tripod.
On the side was the word TRICKSTER in bold lettering.
She gave Four a dry look and scoffed, "Really?"
He chuckled and carefully hefted the rifle up out of the case, coming to a stand with Trixie along with him.
"Its a new model; a prototype to be exact. I thought if you did as well as I'd hoped, you'd like to try this out for me," Four told her as he held the gun out for her to take.
Trixie hesitated before taking the large weapon from him, feeling it's weight in her hands, and looked surprised.
"It's light." She commented out loud.
Four nodded and explained, "Meant for short distance travel. Makes it easier to change vantage points if the shooter wanted a different angle."
Trixie nodded and looked over the weapon. He could tell she liked the sleek design and the way it felt in her arms.
She looked at the word printed on the once more and huffed, "There any particular reason for this?"
Four scratched the back of his head sheepishly and replied, "Heard Eric call you that name once and thought it suited you."
They didn't say anything and Trixie merely nodded before turning away, moving to set the gun on an empty crate off to the side, kneeling behind it as she looked into the small scope and adjusted the setting. Apparently Eric was an off limits topic as well. Wordlessly, Four swiped the ammo box sitting in the large case and came to kneel beside her, opening the small box and setting it next to her so she could reach the bullets.
She grabbed one of the long slim bullets and loaded it into the chamber. Looking into the scope, Trixie adjusted her grip so one hand was hovering over the trigger and the other was gripping a small handle beneath the barrel.
Taking a deep breath, Trixie focused on the target that was the furthest one away, and squeezed the trigger.
Watching Trixie excel at something faster than the rest of the initiates gave Four a sense of pride. She was going stronger every day and he couldn't help but feel that one day she wouldn't need him watching over her from afar anymore. She would be able to watch it herself.
The echo of the gunshot rang loudly in his ears but he couldn't seem to hear anything but the sound of Trixie's breathing. She was too focused to notice the way he was watching her, studying the way she seemed to mold the gun as an extension of herself. This was why he brought it out for her to test in the first place. He'd had a strong feeling in his gut that she would be able to handle it and it turned out he was right.
Four's thoughts drifted to his conversation with Tris not too long ago and he was tempted to bring it up with Trixie now that the two had some time alone but he couldn't seem to bring out the words he so badly wanted to speak to his friend.
She wasn't a victim anymore. She never would if he could help it. But her behavior she had been in the past few days was still concerning to him. Trixie's mood had drastically improved when he had come to get her early at the end of training but that didn't mean he wanted to let it go as if it had never happened.
He wanted to know what had happened. He wanted to know what had gone wrong.
But he decided he wasn't going to ask.
If asking about it dragged her back into whatever place she had managed to drag herself out of, he decided knowing about it could wait.
He was satisfied being with her as they were now.
"Hey Trix," Four spoke softly, gaining her attention for a moment as she moved her gaze from the scope to him. "You know I love you right?"
His words made her pause for a few seconds before she left out a huff that sounded like a small laugh. She set the rifle down to lay on its side before coming to a stand and pulling him with her.
Wordlessly, she pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his torso, and burying her face into his chest. In return, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and back, holding her close as he kissed the top of her head, and rested his chin on her crown with a small sigh.
He wasn't lying; he really did love her. Trixie was a part of him as much as he was of her. They were best friends, brother and sister, and more than that.
He was in love with Tris. But Trixie had a piece of him that his girlfriend might never get.
And he was alright with that.
...
Please tell me what you thought of this chapter! I thought Four needed some love so I added that last part in there at last second and it is probably the only part I'm truly happy with LOL
So now we know why Tonya is so sour whenever it comes to Eric LOL Their personalities already clash so I thought what the hell, lets make them have a past too hahaha
I'm so grateful for all the Favorites, Follows, and Reviews that I have been receiving! You guys have no idea how much it means to me to see that you guys are enjoying it this much and we haven't even made it to chapter 10 LOL I'm hoping to get to 100 reviews before I post my next chapter!
It would mean the world to me if you review and tell me what you liked about this chapter and what you would like to see in the future chapters to come!
Thank you all!
Don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review!
~CoolCat0720
(P.S. I have seen Suicide Squad three times now and have fallen in love with Chato Santana. If you guys like that movie, I plan one posting a short story about that, and will be pairing Chato with one of my other OCs. Can you guess who? LOL)
