Chapter 10

The next day of training went uneventfully. We had some more fighting matches and shot the guns up on the roof. I went back to the training room after dinner to do some laps around the inside track. My legs didn't last long, they had taken a beating during my fight with Drew today, though I won in the end. At this point we had all fought each other at least twice, if not more. After a few rounds of target practice with the daggers that were left out on the table I headed back for a shower. I was quick and once dressed in my usual long sleeved black shirt, pants, and some shoes I headed out the door to go for a walk. I found myself in the large room housing the net laid out for members to jump. The roof was a wide hole looking up into the night sky. The sky was clear and I could see the moon directly up above. I walked up a small set of stairs in the corner and climbed up onto the net.

I let gravity do the rest of the work and rolled into it settling on my back once I was in the sunken middle. I watched the moon for a while. I must have fallen asleep for a bit because I woke to the distant sounds of the train coming from up above. I blinked dazedly up at the sky and realized just a bit too late that a dark figured had climbed up onto the ledge, and jumped down towards the net I was laying on. I rolled away, gripping the ropes to pull myself faster but I was not quite fast enough. The body hit the net and I let out a small cry as I was flung into the air. I hit the net again, and then again, the final time I rolled half on top of whomever had jumped.

"What. The. Fuck."

Oh no. No no no no no, that was not good. I tried to push up and away but he moved as well which only knocked my arm out from under me. "I'm sorry!" I said as I hurriedly tried to sit up again.

"Do you have a death wish!" Eric demanded once, after a bunch of fumbling, we were both finally sitting upright.

"I didn't think-"

"No," He interrupted. "You didn't think."

"Ther-"

"We used this entrance last night." He basically growled at me.

"I know! I'm so sorry!" I said quickly. I can't believe this. Of course I was stupid for lying there, but seriously? Out of every single member he jumps down. I pushed my leg under me and tried to get to the end of the net to get off, but he had moved at the same time which just knocked us into each other again for the third time. One of my legs was thrown over his and I was lying on his chest. I tried to push up again but stopped when he spoke.

"Don't move," He said, and I stilled at his words. He wrapped his arms around me and seconds later we had rolled off the net and my feet hit the ground. I looked at him in amazement before I caught myself and looked down. I was impressed with how fast he got not only himself but both of us off the net. I could barely roll my own body towards the edge. He was strong. He was controlled. And he was pissed off at me. "Do you have any idea how much it hurts to hit a taut net?" He asked.

"I'm sorry," I said again softly rubbing my shoulder where it hurt the most. "Are you OK?"

He stops pacing and frowns at me. "What were you doing on there."

"I wanted to see the sky," I said with a small shrug. I still couldn't meet his eyes properly.

"You couldn't find a window?" He asked.

Now I did look up at him, in confusion. "I haven't seen…" I trailed off realizing that I had seen a window. In my brother's place. And his. I blushed quickly and looked down again. What was wrong with me, I normally always had something to say about anything.

He took a step closer to me, then paused as he seemed to consider. "You didn't break any rules." He said grudgingly.

"So… I'm not in trouble?" I asked hopefully.

"I'm not happy, but there isn't anything I can do for the moment. I will be watching you though. Give me an excuse, anything." He was threatening me although I couldn't muster the fear I have had in the past.

I smiled slightly, "Thank you. I won't though."

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You are close enough to the bottom that I doubt you'll be a problem much longer."

That was an insult. "I am doing amazing from when I arrived!" I said forcefully. "I win half of my matches-" I didn't get a chance to continue to defend myself, verbally anyways. He threw a punch towards my face. I wasn't able to dodge in my surprise but I did swing my arm up and block it. "Hey!" I snapped angrily.

"What? You think being Dauntless is going to get easier? That you will always be safe?"

"No! But-"

"Stage two is even harder than stage one, don't get cocky now. And we continue to train physically even while your tested emotionally daily."

"I know-"

"No! You don't know, that's the problem. You are a stupid little initiate." Eric muttered to himself.

"I'm not-"

"Yes, you are."

He insults me and then interrupts everything I try to say, and throws a punch at me. Now I was angry too. I took a step closer to him and shoved his chest hard with both hands. "Stop interrupting me!" My shove barely made him tilt back, which only made me angrier.

He grabbed both my wrists in a vice grip, crushing them painfully. "Watch yourself." He said lowly. "Remember who you are talking to."

I winced painfully in his grasp and tried to pull out of it. Which only made him squeeze harder. "What makes you think you can get away with everything you do!" I cried trying not to let my voice rise as the pain in my wrists did.

He lets out a bitter laugh. "Besides my position? The fact that I can and no one is able to stop me."

No one is able. Maybe there are plenty able and they are just too afraid to try. I'm not afraid of bullies, and as far as I was concerned that's what he was being. Like a babysitter who sharpens knives. Tris had said early into training. She was proven right when that afternoon there had been a small fiasco with Al missing the target repeatedly that somehow resulted in Tris having daggers thrown at her. Tris stood up to him and was hit down for it. Something I just didn't want to stand for. My anger gave me enough courage to fight back.

I brought a knee up between us to shove him away, he dropped one of my wrists and instead grabbed my leg. I wrapped my now free arm around his neck and in the same moment he lifted my leg higher, to throw me off-balance onto the ground I'm sure, I pulled down on his neck with all my weight. His forehead hit my knee and he let go of me, I stumbled when both feet hit the ground. My plan had just been to get free and I backed up a step, but that was not his plan. He came at me and I blocked three painful punches and twisted against his kick so it would do less damage.

In the second it took him to put his foot down and regain his balance I punched at his gut and then face twice. He blocked the latter two punches and before I could get another he side swiped my feet successfully knocking me to the ground. I hit the floor and immediately rolled away, I was halfway to my feet when he grabbed one of my arms and pinned the other to my side. He pulled me up so I was standing with my back against his chest unable to move. I squirmed for a second but his grip never loosened. He had won in less than a minute.

"Tell me, what is your plan?" He asked with his head right next to my ear.

I was breathing heavily, from the small workout or the adrenaline I wasn't sure, but he wasn't even winded. "Not allow myself to be bullied."

"Bullied?" He laughed. He actually laughed at me. "If I was purely trying to bully you, I would have done so from the instant you placed yourself on the net. I was willing to give you a chance."

"You have already condemned me to not passing initiation!" I struggled a bit more in frustration. I felt him shrug.

"I am not bullying you. I am training you. Teaching you that the world is not fair. That it is not easy. That you need to constantly strive to be better. In fact," He released me and I spun around. "I won't take away points for attacking." Now he smirked. "As I said you are already near the bottom ranking, ridiculously close to being kicked out. Instead, you will have a match against me each night after dinner for the rest of stage one, since you seem so eager to fight me. This counts for today, be in the training room at 7 tomorrow night." With that he exited the room.

Was he serious? On the one hand, that seemed like a good deal considering what I had done. On the other hand, he would probably beat me up so badly I would lose point the next day anyways. On the other hand, he might actually be helpful and provide tips like he had before. On the other hand he probably just want to beat me up. Or maybe he really was trying to be helpful and train us?

Letting out a huff of air loudly I all but stomped my way back towards the dormitory. "Where have you been?" Christina asked when I sat next to her on the bed.

"You'll never guess how freaking bad my luck is." I said quietly not wanting to draw the attention of the others. I told her and Tris what happened and was pleasantly pleased as they listened and made small comments in all the right places. I could definitely get used to having friends like this.

"Well… you're out of initiation." Christina said leaning back.

"No," Tris said thoughtfully. "Maybe he really is trying to train us helpfully."

I smiled, they were arguing the points I had brought up to myself.

"This is the guy who hung me over the chasm."

"To be fair, he didn't actually hang you, he just told you to do it." Tris said helpfully.

Christina scoffed with a small glare. "We should come with you, make sure he doesn't like, kill you or something."

Well, that was comforting.

"I think it will be better if she goes alone. Or at least, not have a direct audience." Tris said. "I've noticed he is more of a… person… when he's not trying to be a leader in front of everyone. If we go he will have to prove that he's got the power blah blah blah."

I laughed. "How often are you around him alone?" I asked.

"A few times when we are up early in the training room. He showed me how to keep my balance after a high kick. Not before laughing at me when I hit the floor, but still."

I contemplated what she said. He had seemed genuine in the training room a couple times. Maybe he wasn't only a complete asshole who thrived on our pain.

"Chasm." Christina reiterated before getting up.

Maybe he was an asshole though. I guess I would find out. We crawled into our bunks when the lights shut off and the room quieted down. Falling asleep took a little longer than usual for me, and when I did sleep I had nightmares.

I woke in a sweat when my alarm went off. Sometimes our friends would come with us early in the morning, today Al joined Tris and I as we left the room before breakfast. Tris always got up with me, the others must not feel like they need as much training. I knew I needed to take advantage of every second I could put in. Al's size gave him an advantage no matter what but he had proven his intense dislike for the fights. So, on the mornings he joined us, Tris and I both tried to coax him to spar with us and not with just a bag. Hitting a bag wouldn't get him anywhere.

I was frustrated by the time we decided to go get breakfast. "You have to fight Al!" I said to him.

"I don't want to hurt you," He retorted.

"Because I'm a girl?"

"Because you're small! I fought Molly and won remember, she's a tank, she just got right back up after."

"Oh, so you think I'm weak and you'll hurt me!" I exclaimed. That sucked. I didn't want to be thought of as weak, or treated differently.

"Will isn't weak and you didn't fight against him." Tris injected.

"Will's my friend!"

"So I'm not your friend then!" I cried.

Al looked at us helplessly as we entered the dining hall. "That's not what I meant."

"Just knock out your opponent Al, or you will be out." I said as I found a seat.

He just grunted in response and started putting food on his plate. I ate sausages and eggs on top of a pancake. It was good and made me feel a bit better, I loved eating. Meal times we just sat around the table talking and it was fun, I didn't realize how much I actually liked being around people until I came here. The others joined us a little bit after that and once we had all finished we headed to the training room.

"Why are there fights listed on the board today, we fought yesterday?" Will asked.

Wondering the same thing we grouped around Four and Eric at the mat.

"Alright!" Four called when everyone got there. "As this is the last week of stage one you will be fighting each other every day this week."

There was some muttered discontent. "What about trying to heal from yesterday?" Molly asked.

"Your enemies won't give you time to heal between each fight. You push through." Four answered.

Wait. Oh no. I looked over at Eric and he was smirking at me, that same little smirk from last night. Of course he knew this was what we were doing this week. And he was going to make me do an extra match at the end of each day as well. With him.

Tris leaned close to my ear. "So, I guess this means you're about to be out of initiation." She didn't say it to be mean, or funny. She was looking at Eric as well; I think she was trying to be supportive.

"No. No, I will just fight harder during each match. If I am quick, I can avoid getting hit too much." I said, I would not lose just because he was trying to prove some point.

"I'm quick, too." She said almost sadly. Sure enough I looked over and she was my opponent for today.

I sighed. Her and I had trained together so often that our moves were very similar. We were pretty evenly matched and last time we fought it took way too long but she ended up winning. It was painful and drawn out. This would suck.

We watched the matches, studying each other as they fought. Four was teaching us different techniques, and trying to get us to pay attention to more than just in the moment punches and kicks. Fighting was not all about brawn apparently, a good fighter was smart, calculative, able to plan and strategize. Four was all of that; so was Eric. The more I learned the more I realized that it was no surprise that he was a leader. I still couldn't quite understand why my brother wouldn't want that position.

I did a bunch of stretches while we watched Edward and Myra fight. Edward didn't want to hurt his girlfriend, but he was by far the best fighter, and she was probably the worst. I had seen him training her sometimes in the morning when we went. Finally, he landed a solid punch to the temple and she instantly went limp. He caught her before she hit the ground and carried her off to the side. I glanced over at Eric and did not miss the look of disgust he gave them.

Tris and I moved into the ring for our fight. Taking up position across from each other we circled the mat slowly.

"Get on with it," My brother snapped.

We both lunged in at the same time. Blocking her punch, I jabbed her, which she blocked. This went on for another minute before I landed a kick to her shin. Her leg dropped a bit at the pain but she just went with the flow and charged at my stomach and knocked us both to the ground. We rolled back and forth for a bit. I had a split lip; so did she. She started to try and stand up but I was right behind her. Wrapping my arms around her neck I held on. Soon she stopped trying to escape and went limp. I let go and stepped away, letting Four take care of her. I wasn't trying to hurt her and she started to stir almost right away.

I had won. Did she let me win or was I really that much better? I wouldn't know unless I asked her though I felt like she wouldn't have given in for any reason. Eric was still watching me as Will and Molly stepped into the ring. He held my stare for a moment before turning to them and telling them to begin.

The match started with Molly swinging the first punch. Will countered and jabbed at her cheek. They circled a bit and again I caught Eric's eye from across the mat. I frowned at him but then Will cut off my view of him. He loved these fights. He was always paying attention and quick to yell at the fighters, why was he watching me? Did I even want to know?

Molly hit the ground and Will staggered off to the side in a win. I missed the final hit, I was preoccupied by someone that shouldn't be catching my attention. I turned away from him again and focused on Will instead. No major bleeding, nothing broken. Christina and I stood on either side of him as Four told us we were done for the day. Everyone started to file out, Will had an arm on Christina's shoulders. I was slowly following when I felt a hand on my arm. I turned my head slightly and saw Eric. "Be here after dinner, don't be late." And then he was out the door.

"What was that?" My brother came up to me, he had waited to helped Molly out but she shrugged him off and left the room alone. Her friends had not bothered to wait for her.

"Nothing," I replied. "Well not nothing, but it's fine."

"What?" He asked suspiciously.

I exhaled my breath gradually and opened my mouth to speak but a quiet beeping came from his pocket. He took a small device out and looked at it quickly.

"I have to go, computer crashed in the control room." Four said as he started to leave abruptly. "Be careful!" He called over his shoulder.

I moved to follow after him and walked leisurely towards the dining hall. I was in no hurry to finish dinner and get beaten up. Though I felt like showing up too late would be something I would enjoy even less. Getting to the loud and crowed room I scanned quickly for my friends. I didn't see them. As glad as I was that I wouldn't have to dodge awkward questions I felt sad that they hadn't stuck around. Christina had been the one to tell me how terrible the situation was. I ate alone quickly, then got up and walked the long way towards the training room. Every step I took closer towards made my stomach flip. This would either be awful or slightly less awful, though I wasn't too optimistic about it. I guess I would find out, I thought as I reached the training room.

A/N: I know exactly where I want to go with this story, it's just transitioning to get the seems to be harder than I imagined. I was stuck on this chapter far too long! The next one should be much quicker anyways J Thanks for r&ring!