Hello, everyone! I'd like to thank Raynacch SilverMoon, TrueColorsNeverFade, and Guest for reviewing. Anyway, hope you guys like this chapter. Please review!

Disclaimer: I only own Liss.


It's the day before Visiting Day. I'm sitting in the training room with Will, Christina, and Al when Tris strides in looking agitated.

"Hey, where were you this morning?" Christina questions, as Tris approaches us.

"I got held up," Tris says, not tearing her eyes from the chalkboard.

"You okay, Tris? You look a little . . ." says Al.

"A little what?" Tris snaps.

"On edge."

Tris doesn't respond, but I see her lips twitch upwards at the board and I turn to read it.

Christina & Al

Myra & Will

Edward & Drew

Peter & Liss

Tris & Molly

Anxiety fills me up, Peter's good and brutal. So far, only Edward had been able to beat him. Tris seems far too pleased to be fighting Molly. I look over to where Peter, Drew, and Molly are standing; they're all staring at Tris and giggling. I'm tempted to ask Tris what happened, but since she hadn't already mentioned it, I assume she doesn't want to talk about it.

"Good luck, Liss," Will says to me.

"Thanks, I think I'm going to need it."

"Go easy on me, okay?" Al tells Christina.

"I make no promises."

Christina and Al's fight passes by quickly; Al falls down after Christina gets in a few punches. Will beats Myra easily and Edward has Drew unconscious within a minute. I stand and move towards the rink slowly, trying to go over everything Eric has taught me. My eyes wander over to where Eric is standing, watching me intently. I take into consideration that Eric wouldn't have paired me with Peter if he didn't think that I could win; at that thought confidence surges through me.

I wave away my nervousness and replace it with determination. I have the least amount of hesitance in fighting Peter; he's a bully and a coward. When I'm a couple of feet away from Peter, I stop and get into a defense position.

He makes the first move, sending a blow at my stomach. I block it, and retaliate with a punch to his jaw that he blocks. He goes for my jaw and I barely block it before sending a blow at his nose. It's a dance between us: punch, block, punch, block, punch, block. Feeling frustrated, I kick my leg out at his stomach, this time I make contact and he stumbles slightly. My triumph doesn't last long as his fist connects with my cheek.

Biting my lip I send a jab at his jaw, he's too slow this time and doesn't manage to block it. I quickly send another punch into his stomach. He shoves me away then sends his foot into my stomach. My breath is knocked out of my body and before I can react, he swipes my feet out from underneath me. I'm still and silent as he delivers another kick to my stomach.

The way he holds himself above me reminds me of Marcus. Suddenly, it doesn't seem as if it's Peter standing above me, but Marcus. My eyes water slightly when he sends a kick to my nose, and blood splatters across my face and onto the floor while my breathing becomes ragged. I'm reminded of all the times Marcus punched or kicked me. I could never fight back because I didn't know how, and what would the other Abnegation have thought. No one would have believed that Marcus abused Tobias and I, but Peter isn't Marcus and I can fight back.

I roll to the side feeling enraged. However, before I can stand up Peter slams his foot down on my left arm. I feel my bones shift and white hot pain courses through me. A different anger than the one from before surges through me, and I stand pushing the pain out of my mind.

I use my right hand to punch Peter in the jaw. He wobbles back and I send a kick at his stomach. When he falls down I waste no time in sending a series of kicks at his stomach and face. Blood sprays from his nose when my foot comes into contact with it. The room is spinning and I take a step back from Peter, who lies motionless on the ground. My breathing is strained and comes out in harsh huffs while my legs crumble beneath me.

I catch myself with my good hand and settle on my hands and knees. My throat feels clogged and I cough into my left hand, wincing when I feel the bone shift. When I pull my hand away I see that it's covered in blood. The pain from before returns and I hiss between my teeth. A pair of hands turn me around and lift me off the floor. I expect it to be Tobias or Will helping me, but instead it's Eric. I fight to keep my eyes open as he carries me out of the room. His mouth is moving, but I can't hear what he's saying. Finally, the strain to keep my eyes open becomes too much and I allow the darkness to consume me.


I wake up to the sound of beeping and I struggle in opening up my eyes. When I do finally get them both open I end up shutting them immediately due to the blinding light.

"Liss?" a muffled voice asks.

I open my eyes slower this time and let them adjust. I'm lying on a hospital bed, an IV is connected to my right arm, and I notice that my left arm is already wrapped in a black cast; two tubes are in my nostrils, giving me oxygen. Tobias sits in a chair on my right, watching me intently.

"Hey," I rasp out, before falling into a coughing fit.

"Here," he says, handing me a glass of water.

I take a few sips before asking, "What happened?"

"Well after you beat Peter, you collapsed and Eric carried you here. That was about three hours ago. Peter broke your nose and arm. The nurse gave you some medication before they set your arm and nose."

"Please, say Peter looks worse than I do," I say.

The corners of his lips twitch up. "Yeah, you broke his nose and three ribs."

"Good, he deserved it."

"He deserves worse."

"Maybe," I say, as a nurse comes in.

"Oh, good you're up! How are you feeling?"

"Fine," I reply, which isn't a huge lie. I'm on too much pain medication to feel much of anything. "When can I leave?"

She purses her lips while checking the machines around me and writing stuff down.

"We usually make our patients stay overnight, but when I checked your medical records it showed that you've had broken bones before. Your vitals are fine, so as long as you promise you'll come back tonight before you go to bed and after you wake up tomorrow morning, then you can leave now."

"Yeah, I promise."

She starts unhooking the wires that are attached to me, while saying, "Okay, if you have trouble breathing or the pain becomes too much just come back here and we'll take care of it."

I nod and when she leaves I slide off the bed. However, my legs are like noodles and they slip out from under me. Tobias catches me and pulls me back to a standing point.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," I say, before taking a hesitant step forward. This time I don't fall, but just to be sure that I won't slip again, I take a few more.

"Will's waiting out in the lobby area. I'm supposed to be working; will you be okay with him?"

I nod. "I've broken bones before. Now go, do your job. We can talk tomorrow."

"Okay," he says, as he steps forward and embraces me.

I hug him back tightly, and when I step back I smile. "I'll see you later."

"See you later," he responds, looking reluctant about leaving me. "If you need me, just ask any of the other Dauntless to come get me, alright?"

"Alright," I agree.

He looks over me one last time, before turning and walking away. I wait till he's out of sight before walking the other way towards the lobby. As soon as I enter Will rushes towards me and pulls me into a hug.

"Oh!" I say, surprised.

When he pulls back, he ruffles my hair up.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

"Of course." I lift up my cast before saying, "See, I'm all fixed."

"Peter's lucky you already put him in the hospital. Otherwise I would have."

"It's fine," I state. "Fighting was part of initiation; everyone got hurt."

"It's not fine. No one else broke their arm. He crossed a line," he retorts. "Now, let's go join the other's for dinner. They were waiting earlier, but once it reached seven, I told them to go and if you woke I'd let them know."

On the way down to dinner Will tells me about how bones heal and when we arrive at the cafeteria I'm pleased to see that Peter isn't there.


When dinner's over I part from my friends. I walk around aimlessly, at least I intend to, over time I realize that I'm on the path to the training room. I have no reason to go, my training sessions with Eric are over, and it's not like I could fight if I wanted to, but I continue anyway. Stepping into the training room, I'm surprised to see Eric.

He's facing away from me and beating up a punching bag. His punches are forceful and the bag swings back in forth. I walk towards him; if he knows I'm here he doesn't show it. I continue to silent observe him before asking,

"Angry? Or did you go easy on me yesterday?"

He spins around towards me, looking surprised, and then says, "The first. Shouldn't you be in the hospital?"

"They let me leave. I just have to check in tonight and in the morning."

He nods and silence hangs between us. After a few seconds I can't take it and I blurt out,

"I'm sorry."

His eyebrows pull together. "Why?"

I look down at my hands before saying, "Well, I mean you paired me with Peter because you thought I could beat him, and then I almost screwed everything up. I almost lost and he still beat me up pretty bad, so doesn't that give him points too? You thought I was better than I actually am and I'm just sorry. I didn't mean to disappoint you, again."

"Liss, I'm not mad at you," he responds lifting my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"But, you said you were angry. Why else would you be angry?" I reply, my eyes searching his as he drops his hand so that it's resting on my shoulder now.

He appears to be struggling to find the right words before he says, "I am angry. Just not at you."

I nod. "Is it alright if I stay?"

"I'll get a chair," he says.

Instead of lifting his hand off my shoulder, he runs it down my arm and when he reaches my cast I see his eyes harden. I shiver slightly and he turns away and walks off. My arm tingles and my skin feels like it's burning, but not in an unpleasant way. I'm suddenly filled with an odd desire for his skin to be in contact with mine again. When he returns with the chair I bump my hand into his; he doesn't say anything about it, so neither do I.

He returns to the punching bag and starts at it again. The way he fights makes it obvious that he's from Erudite. His stance looks like it was copied from a textbook and even though he's only fighting a bag; I can see his cold grey eyes calculate each move based on the way it swings. When he finishes an hour later, I'm attempting to stifle a yawn.

"You still have to go to the hospital, right?" Eric questions as we walk out.

"Yeah, why?"

"I'll take you."

I'm about to protest and say that I'm fine, when he places his hand on my lower back and ushers me forward, and my will crumbles. After we turn a few corners I ask,

"Why'd you switch factions?"

He doesn't stop moving but he stiffens slightly and I quickly backtrack.

"Never mind, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's fine. I wanted to get out of Erudite; I didn't fit in there."

I'm tempted to ask him to elaborate, but I figure I shouldn't push my luck.

"Why'd you switch?" he asks.

I don't want to tell him about Marcus, so I settle for saying, "I was suffocating."

He lets me leave it at that and when we reach the hospital, he stays and waits for the nurse to dismiss me before walking me almost all the way to the dormitory.

"You did well today," he says so quietly that I have to lean forward to hear. "If Peter gives you any trouble, let me know."

"Okay," I breathe out.

"Goodnight, Liss."

"Goodnight, Eric," I reply, before turning around and walking the rest of the way to the dorm.