Heaven in Hell

Chapter 10

Eric's POV

I'm going to kill them. No, that would be too easy, I'm going to make them wish they were dead.
Al...I remember him well. The slow, smart-mouthed Candor. He was supposed to be friends with Tris, why the Hell would he go and do something stupid like this?
I look down at Tris' unconscious body laying limp in my arms. She's beaten and weak, and by the looks of her glowing left cheek, she'll have a nice bruise there when she wakes up. Over all her injuries don't look that bad, I don't see the point in a hospital visit. I'll just have her stay in my apartment for tonight, I don't think she'd mind. I get her inside the room and lay her gently on the bed. I move away a few loose strands from her face to get a better look. Even when she's beaten and battered, she's still beautiful.
I look down at my stinging knuckles and see that they're bloodied, but not all of it is mine. I did give that guy, Drew, a good beating that I'm pretty sure he's broken rib or two... and I might have broke his nose... and I may or may not have fractured something in that pathetic little head of his but really, who's keeping score. I go into the bathroom to clean up my hands and then go get an ice pack for Tris and a rag for my head. I may have taken Peter by surprise, but he's quick to fight, he got in a good hit on my face, right where one of the piercings were. But next time, he won't be as lucky.
I watch Tris sleep, holding the ice pack to her head after treating my own. After a while her eyelids flutter open and and her stormy eyes find mine. I smile down at her.
"Your face." she says, slightly groggy from sleep. She must be referring to my eyebrow where the piercing was.
I chuckle, "Yeah, I know, pretty ain't it?"
Tris smiles but it vanishes as soon as it appeared. She reaches out and lightly touches the spot that had stopped bleeding. I close my eyes, relishing in her soft touch.
"Tris," I say, gently taking her hand in my own, "I'm all right." I stroke soft circles on the back of her hand.
She watches my hand glide across hers as she speaks, "How did you find me?"
"Max had to see me about something important," I'm still not gonna tell her about the war, not yet, "I was walking back from his office when I saw something strange. And frankly, it scared the shit out of me."
She nods in response.
"Tris, I think that for right now, maybe it would be safer for you to stay close to your transfer friends."

"Why? I mean... I-I thought I was."

"I'm saying that you need to be laying low for a while. Feign vulnerability," she has a shocked look on her face and is about to say something but I cut her off before she can, "Maybe the others won't be as jealous if you do. Keep your strength hidden unless absolutely necessary. Okay?"

She still has that shocked expression on her face but nods. "You want me to pretend to be vulnerable?" "If it means you're safe, then yes. Your friends will protect you, I'm sure."

"Okay." She shift her position on bed and winces.

"It's okay to be in pain, it's just me here." I smirk. She nods and groans. "Yeah, you're staying the night here, girly." And I swear I can see a hint of a smile on her lips. I stand up and head to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
I walk back out shirtless and in sweats to see Tris go wide-eyed and blush. I can't help the smirk on my face. I walk over to where she lay on the bed and crouch down to eye level. "You want anything before we go to sleep?"
"N-no, I'm fine." she says, voice cracking. I swear I'm trying to get the smirk off, but it won't leave! I shrug then walk back to the other side and crawl in bed next to Tris. I carefully pull her small body closer to my own, her back to my front, and whisper in her ear, "Sweet dreams, baby."
"Good night, Eric." she giggles.

XxXxTris' POVxXxX

I woke up early the next morning feeling a little hotter than usual, probably having to do with the extra limp arm around my stomach. I smile. I had stayed the night with Eric in his apartment... because I had been attacked. My smile fades. Al. Why would he do this? He was my friend! Or so I thought, I guess the key word there is 'was'. I don't think I could ever forgive him for this, let alone trust him.

Being so lost in my thoughts I barely acknowledged the slight movement of the bed as Eric wakes from his sleep and nuzzles his nose in my hair.

"Good morning to you too."
"Mmm, I could get used to this." he breaths.
I shift to look directly up at him wincing a little in the process, the pain doesn't really affect me at the moment. "Oh, could you?" He nods his response. I look into his bright grey eyes, making a brave decision and kiss him. In this brave morning mood, I bite his bottom lip and he groans his response.

A knock on the door startles us out of our reverie.
"Eric, get your lazy ass up!" Max yells from the other end.
"What do you want now, Max?" Eric yells back.
"Just let me in, damn it!" Eric sighs loudly while looking at me. He nods to the bathroom door and I slip in before he opens his apartment door.
"What?" I hear Eric spit.

"We need to talk to all the Dauntless leaders."
"Ugh, more meetings?" Come to think of it, there have been a lot of meetings lately...
"We've set the date for the attack. Be there at nine, Eric." Attack?
I hear the door slam slightly and fast pacing around the room.
I walk out from the bathroom to see Eric with his back turned to me looking out on of his windows in the apartment.
"Hey?" I ask.
He turns and smiles, pulling me closer by my waist.
"What did Max mean by attack?" He frowns and thinks for a minute.
"It was nothing, don't worry about it."
"Eric, you're keeping something from me and I want to know what it is!"
He sighs in frustration and runs a lazy hand through his hair then continues pacing about. "Tris, please. I-I can't tell you. I wish I could but I can't. There's nothing you can do about it and I'm trying my best to get something done about it. But right now, it's for your better benefit not to know. Okay?"
"I'm confused. What is it I can't do? What is this about? I think it would benefit me more if you told me!" I snapped.
"Forgive me, Love, but it's for your own safety not to know."
"You know, you're getting more and more secretive nowadays, Eric."
He says nothing but looks at me with solemn, pleading eyes.
"I should just go." I turn to walk towards the door, but Eric grabs my arm to stop me.
"Look, Tirs, I'm sorry. I'm only doing this to protect you!"
I look him dead in the eyes and jerk my arm from his grasp. "I can protect myself, thanks. I'm not a child, Eric." Shutting the door a little too hard I walk down to the dorms to change into better cloths for the day. And can I mention ow? All this strain has been hurting my wounds from last night.

XxXx Small Time Skip xXxX

I shower and change into new clothes then head down to the cafeteria to see Uriah smile and start to wave me over to his table but immediately stopped when he saw the condition I was in. I continued to walk toward the table I usually share with Christina, Will, and Al, but thank God he wasn't there today.
"What the hell happened to you?!" Christina asked, Will to her left looking just as concerned as she sounded.
"Peter, Drew, and..." I swallow hard.
"And who else? I'm bleed 'em dry for hurting you." Uriah said, abandoning his table come over to sit by my right side.
"And Al."
"NO!" Christina shrieked loudly, a few people look over at our table but went back to what they were doing.
"That's it! He's dead!" Uriah says, banging his fist on the table.
"Don't worry Tris, we'll make sure you're safe from now on." Will says, putting his arm around me.
Smiling thankfully, I look over to see Christina glaring at the entrance.

I turn around to see Peter walking in with a beat up looking Drew and a pissed off Molly. Damn, Eric did that much damage?

"Well, I was gonna kick Drew's ass, but I think someone already beat me to the punch!"
Christina turned her glare unto Uriah. "Realy? Just... Really?"
"Hey, I thought I should lighten the mood, everyone's bad vibes were bringing me down, yo!" Uriah laminated. I admit, he's lame jokes did make me chuckle a little bit. Uriah's always good for a laugh.
"Tris?" I hear a broken voice come from behind me. And just like that, everyone was back in defence mode.

"I won't hurt you. I never wanted to...I just want to say that I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I don't...I don't know what's wrong with me, I...please forgive me, please..." I glare at a red eyed, puffy faced Al and get up from my seat to stand my ground.
"Don't you ever come near me again you sick bastard."
Al shifts his eyes to Uriah to my right and then to Will on my left.
"I think you should just go, if you know what's good for you." Uriah says, in a voice that almost startles me.
Al, looking defeated and hurt, walks rather quickly out of the dining hall.

*Is this story still any good? Should I just stop, er...? I Require feedback!

Por favor. *