Okay guys, I've made a decision to change one of the characters sort of. Basically my portrayal of Four is really, really off. I'm using him as comic relief a lot and essentially it's just not right for his character, so instead, I'm just going to replace parts of chapters 6,7 and 8 where he turns up, with a different character whose allowed to be the comic relief and who it makes sense him being there when I'm pretty sure Four probably doesn't care all that much about Eric (there is a scene I did leave him in on the roof top in chapter seven). So, we're going to introduce a character called Harvey. If you can't be bothered to go back and read them, (not much will change, just that instead of four, Eric will be having the conversations with this guy) here's the descriptions for you

Chapter six - The mans eyes swept the room, seeing Beth but seemingly pretending it didn't matter as he climbed out of the cargo lift. He was tall and slim, with dark eyes and dressed much like every other dauntless male but looked far more at home in them than most did. His knuckles were bruised, fingers weighed down with heavy silver rings bar his trigger finger that was instead tattooed with thick black circles that travelled all the way up to the very tip of his finger, down his hand and around his wrist. He had no piercings to speak of, but instead he had several neck tattoos that disappeared under his jacket from view.

Harvey was Eric's right hand man. A trigger happy lunatic that was described as a bit of a mad dog, but was also known as one of the funniest men within dauntless...if he liked you. He had a killer sense of humour and a loud laugh and essentially had managed to become 'friends' with Eric due to his total refusal to be ignored by the leader and had bugged him into submission. He was also effortlessly good at his job and everyone who knew him knew he didn't miss a target.

The Weariest of Bones

Chapter Nine

He was currently pummelling his way into a punching bag, hitting it so hard the thing was ripping in two. He was consumed by pent up rage that he couldn't seem to let go and the idea of going anywhere near Beth right now unsettled him. He was used to solving his problems in dauntless by fighting, hitting the shit out of each other in order to settle a score. Even with women. Because the women here knew how to scratch your eyes out as well as the men.

He'd once had a physical fight with a girl he'd been sleeping with who'd found out he'd been fucking someone else at the same time. The result had been her launching herself at him during training and the two hitting each other till they were bloody and then the score was settled and they had glorious sex afterward…but that was a very different breed of woman.

Beth hadn't hit anyone in her life and he didn't plan to make her start now. He loved that she wasn't callas and hard, but warm and loving with eyes full of concern for him…he liked how weak she was, how sometimes it felt like he could snap her like a twig just from holding her wrong…he'd never physically hurt her, not on purpose, but he liked that he could control her, she wasn't some wild cat he had to contain. He understood that mentally she was strong, much stronger than she gave herself credit for, but he could emotionally manipulate her in a heartbeat and what interested him was how easily she trusted him again; even after everything he'd done in the past.

He wanted to punish her for her arms. He had controlled aspects of her life that even she didn't know about without even physically being there; pushed her into a certain school, career, a very female driven career at that, influenced her decision to move in with her sister…or get pushed to be living with her sister…he had mapped it all out without her even knowing.

Of course Lucas hadn't been part of that initial equation in his head but Janine had obviously managed that. He'd been in control always…but this? This was something he hadn't and still had no control over and he didn't like it.

Beth was his. His to leave. His to hurt. His to ignore. His to find again. His to be with. His. Maybe it was a Neanderthal way of thinking but he simply didn't care, that was how he felt. He heard the laughter enter the training area but didn't bother turning around, continuing working, it wasn't until he heard his name that he stopped, his jaw locking.

"Look who we've got here…one of our powerful masters…" He could hear the drink in their voices and felt himself quell the urge to want to have them all shot. He glanced over his shoulder, his expression bored.

"Can I help you?"

"I dunno, can you?" Eric finally turned, bare chested and wet with sweat from his work out and raised an eyebrow. He instantly recognised the younger man; he'd been an initiate a year or so back, hadn't liked Eric, had had the shit kicked out of him, made a low work grade and had hated him ever since. That wasn't exactly a new story.

"I haven't got time for this." Eric said bluntly, turning back to the bag when the young man, Sebastian, spoke again.

"See, I heard you've gone soft…" Eric paused and then he let out a laugh, but the laugh held no actual humor and he smiled, a smile which had struck fear in the heart of more than one initiate in it's lifetime.

"…What did you say?" He asked looking over his shoulder at Sebastian who shrugged, clearly in the mood for a fight and Eric, whose irritation levels had just about peaked was more than happy to oblige. "Now, it's only fair that I warn you. I'm really fucking pissed off already today, so, if you start this with me, I'll break your fucking nose."

"Just my nose?" Sebasitan jeered and Eric let out another laugh, shaking his head.

"I'm going to enjoy having an excuse to beat you too a pulp. From what I hear, you've been waiting to say this too me for a long damn time but you've been too scared. So what? You find out I have a girl and a kid and decide that means I'm not the guy that almost killed you when you were an initiate? You've got a chip on your shoulder that you need to get rid of and guess what? I'm more than happy to knock it off for you."

Sebastian just went for him, running at him full force but Eric was Eric and he weighted a lot more and they crashed into each other like animals. This wasn't a fight of skill. It was one of anger.

It was several minutes before Harvey turned up, wondering what all the shouting had been about and stumbling across Eric, beating the shit out of a kid.

A part of him felt almost bad for the guy but then, if Sebasitan came across an opponent as angry as Eric currently was; this was good practice for such a horrid confrontation in the future.

He heard the crunch of the guys nose as Eric threw his fist straight into Sebasitan's face and he went down like a sack of potatoes, blood pouring from his face and swearing extremely loudly.

"FUCKKKKK ERIC!" He shouted, holding his nose with both hands, eyes wide, but Eric didn't stop. He couldn't.

All Harvey could remember was feeling actual panic engulf him as Eric threw his foot into Sebastian's head, sending him completely down, before he climbed on top of him, pulling him up by the collar and beginning to beat his face in as if his hand were a mallet. Sebastian's two cronies had gone silent, watching in frozen horror at what they were seeing before Harvey appeared from the upper levels, grabbing onto Eric's arms and hauling him backwards bellowing

"STOP!" At the top of his voice. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" He yelled at the two cronies standing stock still "Get him up and get him out of here! NOW!" They nodded, finding their friend and trying to see if he was still alive before hauling him up and carrying him out as if he were a rag doll. "Jesus FUCKING Christ!" He shouted letting Eric go and backing away, his hands going to the bridge of his nose. "What was that?!"

"What, you've got a problem with me beating up arseholes now?" Eric said, out of breath and beginning to crunch his fists before he looked down at them to see them shaking. Eric's hands never shook.

"Uh, no, although, I do have a problem with you ALMOST. KILLING HIM."

"Well. I warned him."

"You warned him did you? Oh great. Well, I'm ecstatic. Why the fuck are your hands shaking like that?"

"Adrenalin."

"You just broke a guys jaw! Why you so fucking angry?!"

"Fuck off."

"Eric, fucking tell me-" And Eric suddenly turned on him snarling.

"IT'S NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS HARVEY!"

Eric was a leader, not a follower, and although he had done what he was told when first in dauntless, it had taken him almost no time at all to find his footing as the one giving the instructions and ordering everyone else around.

He was callas and cold and never did anything unless it benefited him in some way, which was the main reason Eric didn't consider himself to have any actual friends. Friendships were another thing that Eric just didn't need in order to function. Sure if it came along and it was useful he wouldn't reject it, but most of the people he'd made any sort of connection with in any possible sense had already died…that was the problem with being dauntless, people just weren't around long enough. Having serious attachments to people was just useless here, and to a man who'd never really needed it anyway, it's was just something unnecessary.

"IS THAT CLEAR?" Eric finished angrily, glaring at Harvey who eyed him up and down, clearly uncertain of what Eric might do.

"Fine then. Fuck you and your problems boss, next time I'll let you kill him." Before he turned on his heel and walked out.

She was sitting on the edge of one of the walkways that passed as a bridge between two sides of the chasm, her legs dangling over the sides and staring down into the blackness. She felt her fingers tighten around the edge of the walkway and imagined the pale scars on her arms stretching with movement.

"I like his tattoos." She turned her face to look over her shoulder, feeling the vibrations of Luke's voice against her back.

"Yeah?" Luke nodded, his back pressed against hers, legs out across the walkway, facing the opposite direction.

"but he's a bit scary." She felt herself let out a slight laugh, her eyes stinging painfully remembering the argument from last night.

"He'd never hurt you…ever."

"I know." The tone of his voice was so certain, not even a tiny bit worried about it, she wondered what it must be like to be so self-assured. "Is he a policeman?"

"Sort of baby…he protects us."

"From divergents?" She tensed, swallowing and clearing her throat before nudging him off from leaning on her and turning around so that she was facing him.

"Well, no, more just bad people…why do you ask that?" Luke blinked, looking around before looking back towards her.

"…are divergents bad?"

"Well…some of them are, yes."

"Am I a divergent?"

"No honey, no you aren't." she said shaking her head gently and smiling a little, her hand caressing his face.

"So why did Martha say that I was?"

"I honestly don't know baby…but you aren't…you know what you are?" He shook his head, looking up at her with big eyes and she smiled beautifully at him.

"Your mine!" And she leaned forward pressing a kiss to his nose and he giggled.

"Beth!" Both she and Lucas looked up at the voice, seeing Harvey on the other side of the chasm. She blinked with a frown and put up a hand waving at him. He moved quickly, clearly something was bothering him and she pulled herself up to standing as he approached.

"Harvey?"

"Beth, I need you,"

"what why?"

"Eric, I need you to talk to him."

"What's he done." She replied gravely.

"Eric?" He looked up from where he sat at the sound of her voice and turned around, staring at her as if she was the last thing he wanted to see at that moment.

"What are you doing here?" His eyes then flicked to Harvey who sat on the staircase to their right, watching. Her eyes went to the half drunk bottle of whiskey and she began carefully.

"…Harvey told me what happened and-"

"And what?" He asked pulling a face and shaking his head as if it didn't matter and taking a few steps forwards. She looked towards Harvey nervously "No, don't look at him. I'm asking you, what did he tell you?" His voice was dangerously calm and assertive. She blinked, eyeing him and taking in his tense body language, like a caged animal, agitated and angry…drink fulled.

"That he saw you almost kill someone." Eric smiled, the smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, the smile she didn't like.

"…Did he now?" She swallowed, he looked almost manic, the smile on his face scaring her before he exhaled deeply, "Well Beth, let me enlighten you…I am dauntless, I kill people. That's something you're just going to have to get used too."

"Yeah but not needlessly! Look at your hands Eric!" She exclaimed, drawing her cardigan around herself consciously. He didn't even look down at his bruised and blood covered knuckles.

"I told you before we stared this that I was not a good man-"

"Stop it!" She snapped causing him to blink in surprise.

"You are not a cruel man Eric. Don't you dare deflect from this and do the macho, 'I'm a big man' speech at me! Don't you dare! You're angry! And I know why." She paused looking at him defiantly.

"And why am I angry Beth?" He glared at her.

"Because of me. Because of what I did, but it was a long time ago Eric. You didn't know anything about it and yes, sure, it was something that happened because I felt abandoned, but I'm still here. And I'm not going to do something like that ever again. And not because of you…or my sister…but because of my son. Because I love him with everything in me, and you could leave me, or I could you and it would make no difference…I'm stronger than I was then. I've lived without you once and I'll do it again-"

"Don't you fucking say that." His voice was so dangerously low that she stopped abruptly looking at him.

"What else do you want me to say?!" She exclaimed, suddenly walking forwards and closing the gap between them. "That I'll fall apart if you leave me?! Because yeah, it'll hurt like hell but I'm far more than I was at seventeen Eric…you can count on that."

"What the fuck have you been saying to her?" Eric said suddenly his eyes flicking daggers at Harvey who rolled his eyes and flicked open his lighter lighting a cigarette.

"He's said nothing to me!" She exclaimed, her hand going to his face and caressing his cheek to recapture his attention. "Only that he was worried about what you were going to do!" He was looking at her, intensely before he narrowed his eyes, exhaling and suddenly taking her face in his hands.

"And what makes you think I'd ever let you leave me?" She blinked in surprise, beginning to talk,

"…Eric-" but he cut her off.

"Because I wouldn't." He finished intensely.

"You're frightening me."

"I should do." He replied darkly, and she suddenly let go of him stepping backwards.

"Is that what you want then? Me to be frightened of you?"

"If it makes you stop being such a fool then yes."

"…What is wrong with you?"

"Beth." He said pointedly "This is no longer a discussion I want to engage with. So, I'm going to go back to my boxing and your going to go back to the apartment."

"I won't let you see Luke until we've resolved this." He stared at her,

"He's my son, you can't bar me from him."

"No I can't…but Clarrisa can." The silence around them was deafening but Beth refused to back down.

"…What are you talking about?"

"I tried to slit my own veins open Eric." He seemed to flinch at the words "I wasn't stable Eric. I wanted to die." She paused, swallowing and breathing calmly to restore composure "My sister has legal custody of Lucas and I will give him back to her until this is all resolved if need be."

"…You don't have custody of our son?"

"No." She said bluntly "Must I remind you that I was still on anti depressants until relatively recently? I could just about look after myself…it was safer for him that way." He was just staring at her, his face a picture of emotions that she couldn't unravel. He suddenly turned, facing the wall and with everything in him throwing his fist into the concrete with a roar. "ERIC!" She cried, Harvey went to move but she got there first, throwing her arms around his arms and torso to stop him, her cheek pressed against his naked back. "STOP!" He shrugged her off, turning around and shouting,

"I HAVE TORN YOU APART!" He paused, looking almost panic stricken "LOOK!" He suddenly went forwards, tearing her sleeves up over her skin to look at her arms "Look what I've done to you!" And he sunk to his knees, kneeling as if he couldn't stand any longer.

"…Do you want me to leave?" She questioned quietly, "To leave you in peace?" She felt him sigh, his shoulders a mass of bronze skin.

"I'm far to selfish for that…" He slowly stood then, finally looking down at her and shaking his head, his large hands on her hips "Far, far too selfish..." His eyes studied her face, one of his hands going to her hair and tucking the strands behind her ear. "…I want to punish you for this…" He said it as if it surprised even him and tears sprung to her eyes as she looked at him.

"You're confusing me with your initiates…" He closed his eyes, frowning deeply, his head between his shoulder blades, her hand on his cheek."…You know that I have to send him away don't you? To be with Clarissa for a while until we've sorted this out?"

"Where are they?"

"A few have taken refuge on an amity farm, just until it's safe to return the children to erudite…I'll send a message and take him today," She went to move away but he gripped onto her arm, keeping her close and she could feel his breath on her skin and she could smell the drink on him. "And I'll come back…" He swallowed, his jaw locking as he exhaled loudly, clearly thinking.

"I'm coming with you."

"No-"

"I am."

"You know why you can't!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide "I don't want you around him like this…I want him not to be scared of you!" He swallowed, his jaw locking angrily "Fine. But you take him." He pointed at Harvey who said nothing, only watching the scene from his staircase. "And he will bring you back." He said clearly, locking eyes with her. She said nothing, only looking at him with her sad eyes.

"…I think I torment you as much as you do me…"

"Oh you'll be the death of me, I can assure you." He said bitterly and she frowned gently, shaking her head.

"Oh Eric…" He hated her sympathetic tone and his expression showed it. "Stop hitting things…" He let out a laugh despite himself and as she looked at him she realised how much she didn't want to leave him, but Lucas came first…he always came first. She took a step back from him before turning and walking towards the steps. "I'll meet you in the apartment." She said as she passed Harvey who nodded, his eyes trailing on her as she walked up the stairs and away before he switched back to Eric who was now glaring at him.

"Stop watching her." He said suddenly and Harvey frowned violently

"What?" He asked almost as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You heard. Whatever you're poisoning her with…whatever you're telling her…stop." He was challenging him and Harvey knew it.

"Your losing your god damned mind Eric." He said standing up "She's a good woman. Much more than what you deserve…but she's the master of her own fate, it's her decision if she stays or not and if I'm honest mate I don't give a fuck what she does but I'll tell you one thing. If I ever see her with a mark on her, I'll take her back to Erudite myself."

"If you are insinuating that I'd hurt her-"

"Oh mate." He said shaking his head "You've already done plenty of that." And he turned, using the barriers to pull himself up the steps and away, leaving Eric standing in the gloomy room alone.

"Beth," She looked over her shoulder, still walking as Harvey jogged up behind her, falling into step with her "Beth you need to listen to me and you need to listen now," He took hold of her arm, stopping her mid walk.

"What?" She asked, unable to look at him.

"Do yourself a favour yeah? Take yourself, take your kid, take your life and just get the fuck away from here and from him…" He was looking at her so intently as she met his eyes and she frowned violently, her eyes studying his face "…Eric's the best leader anyone could ever have because he's good at it…he's cold and unfeeling and he makes the best initiates and agents, but you? Fuck me Beth, he will hurt you. He will hurt you bad."

"Harvey-"

"No listen!" He exclaimed, grabbing hold of both of her arms, "You're fucking up his head Beth. Look at him! I've never even seen him drink!" He shook his head "Being that jealous…being that possessive? That isn't normal. You're going to amity…use it."

"He'd never hurt me…"

"Really? You trust that 100% do you?" He asked looking at her, both eyebrows raised and she opened her mouth to retort but couldn't find the words. "I'll take whatever I have to and not bring you back if that's what you want...i'm just asking you to seriously think about it...do you want this?"

...did she?