A/N: Hello Everyone! Please excuse my absence because I've spent the greater part of last month terribly sick. Also, I don't know why but between Bluebell and Angeline, I've been having a hard time finding inspiration. In relative comparison, Helaena just kind of flows off the page. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a bit short but there will be more to come! Read and Review! xoxo
And that's how they are where they are now. The couple, sitting side by side in a United front against the leaders of Dauntless. Eric's brilliant idea. Bluebell kind of wanted to kick him in the shin again for this. Only he would come up with some ridiculous plan like this, as if this would solve all their problems.
"We'll hear your case Eric, before placing judgment," Max declared, his eyes resting between the couple and wondering just how this would play out.
Eric cleared his throat, settling into the chair behind him before daring himself to begin, "I, Eric Coulter, am here to petition for the right for Bluebell-the woman at my side right now, to enter Dauntless and become a member, under the condition that she pass the next initiation with the newest class,"
Silence fills the room, and Bluebell clenches her jaw. She knew this was a stupid idea, and borderline unheard of. Actually, no, it was completely and utterly unheard of and she told Eric so when he proposed the plan to her.
"Her test results placed her in Dauntless. Her mother was a Dauntless-borne, she's a legacy and bar Bluebell's mother getting sick, she would have been here. Extenuating circumstances kept her away but that doesn't make her any less Dauntless," Eric continued, staring into the eyes of each leader before him, hoping beyond hope that he could sway them toward his side.
"That doesn't dismiss the fact that at the Choosing Ceremony Bluebell picked Amity, she chose blood before faction Eric," Lana countered, leaning back in her own seat, arm crossed against her chest and staring rather disapprovingly at the couple before her.
"She's proven nothing except for the fact that she has you wrapped around her finger," Gabriel sneered.
Eric growled and made to stand but before he could, Bluebell placed her hand on his arm before standing herself, "So let me prove myself. You are all aware how devoted I am to Eric, and him to me—this very hearing should confirm that fact to you all. My loyalty isn't to Amity, it's to my family. It has always been to my family and now, Eric is—or will be, my family. Dauntless will be my new family, the family I should have had—if you let me," sitting back down, Bluebell daringly met the eyes of all the Dauntless leaders ahead of her.
"No one gave you permission to speak," Lana hissed, standing up and glaring at Bluebell. The Dauntless leader, being one of only two females in the whole leadership group—has always had a stick up her ass and was a stickler for the rules.
Georgine, who had remained mostly silent until now, simply observing, stood up this time, "I have one more condition,"
"Georgie! You're actually thinking of letting them go through this?" Gabriel erupted, standing up as well but this time yelling at his fellow Dauntless leader.
"Who ever said that she couldn't try? If she fails, she'll be factionless," Georgine shrugged, her blasé attitude setting Eric's teeth on edge. The fact that she could pronounce Bluebell factionless so easily nearly set Eric off.
Lana shook her head in disapproval, "And if she succeeds?"
"Then Dauntless will have one more soldier to use. Now can I say what my extra condition is?" Georgine sighed, irritated with having been interrupted.
Max motioned for Georgine to continue, his eyes never leaving the stoic faces of the couple before him.
"The extra condition. If Bluebell here," Georgine waves her hand toward the woman across from her, "fails, then not only will she be factionless…but Eric too,"
All eyes swiveled toward Eric who was sitting stiffly in his seat, his anger visibly brimming from his form.
"No!" Bluebell stood, slamming her hands against the table, "No, you do not get to punish Eric for my failures,"
"And who said you have a choice in how we decide things, Amity?" Lana scoffed, her eyes gleaming with hatred.
"Blue," Eric harshly whispers under his breath, "sit down," the commanding tone is enough to grab Bluebell's attention but not enough to make her sit.
"No, you've worked so hard to become a leader and I'm not taking it away from you," Bluebell swallows harshly gazing into Eric's eyes before turning all her attention on the leaders before her, "No, you don't get to do this to him. Faction before blood right? Well if I choose to do this, I'll be a traitor to Amity and my blood, wouldn't I? And what else to do to a traitor, what would be the Dauntless thing to do…what other choice…than execution?" the last words come out as a whisper but Bluebell can see the shock and utter astonishment in the Dauntless Leaders' faces as she proposed this.
It's a desperate attempt. One that Bluebell doesn't know will play out but she absolutely refuses to let Eric waste all that he has worked for just for her.
"Blue," Eric angrily calls, his hand tightly gripping around her wrist, "What the fuck are you thinking?"
Bluebell doesn't look at Eric, her eyes firmly stuck on the leaders before her, "Do you believe in me?" She whispers under her breath so that only Eric can here.
After a moments hesitation, Eric nods grudgingly.
"Than believe that I will get through this," Blue whispers, determination flaring through her as she watches all the leaders slowly start to accept her idea. It would have been a waste of training to get rid of Eric, but to get rid of her? A potential new initiate? Nothing that they couldn't and haven't done before.
"Well?" Bluebell prompts, knowing what the answer is before the leaders have even opened their mouths.
They've got nothing to lose from this deal. Eric would be shattered if she failed, but Bluebell had the upmost fate that he would move on—he was strong and utterly Dauntless. However, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt Eric in anyway, so Bluebell was determined to do her favorite thing: win.
There's a look that is passed between all the leaders, one that Eric can read and he knows the answer even before Max stands.
"We accept," eyes gleaming with emotion, Max stands and smiles tightly, "Welcome to Dauntless, initiate,"