Warning: prepare for psycho-Eric and graphic displays of violence
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Eric walked over to Four, they had been busy all morning with fights. The initiates were a lot more skilled, since when they arrived, but still had a long way to go.
After dismissing them for lunch, Four dragged matts through the training hall, while Eric set up the knives.
He took one and swirled it around his fingers, while leaning against the table and addressing Four, who was now standing a few feet away from him.
"I see you grew some balls and decided to apologize to your sister."
"I intend to." Four narrowed his at the young leader. "But as you are the one responsible for this whole mess, you should keep your mouth shut."
Not being intimidated in the slightest, Eric rolled his eyes at him.
"I was drunk. So was she. And no one of us could have known that Erudite fucked up, so you should cut the bullshit and acknowledge, that I, and believe me I don't want to say that, am going to be a part of that family bullshit you two have going on."
Four looked at Eric, as if he´d grown two heads.
"Family? As in family you and me? What kind of a disaster would that be.?!"
"Come on. You two are the poster childs for dysfunctional families. Just think about the possibilities." Eric sighed dreamily. "Throwing daggers at each other, while celebrating faction day, training our kids to fight each other, but come on. We all know my son would beat yours any time."
Four started to look concerned. "Are you feeling alright? I think you just lost the rest of your marbles." Eric laughed loudly. He didn't know what it was, but he felt content. He just hummed in confirmation, before letting silence take over.
"So the baby is a boy?" Four asked, squatting down, to pick up one of the weights.
"What? Oh, no. I mean we don't know yet. But I could picture us having a son running around here, scaring people."
At the mental image of a little boy with Eric´s face, Four had to grin. "As long as he doesn't look like you"
"What is that supposed to mean, number boy?" Eric shouted offended from his side of the training room. "I´m a pretty attractive man, if I say so myself. Just ask your sister."
"Dude." Four deadpanned, making Eric laugh.
They stayed silent for a few minutes. But their reverie was interrupted by the first jumper, barging into the room, breathing heavily.
"What happened?", Four asked, switching to Instructor mode.
"Sir. Eric, Sir." He stumbled over his words.
Rolling his eyes Eric snarled at him." Spit it out, already."
"Your, uhm, girlfriend? Sir. Something happened?"
"What happened?" Four repeated, ready to snap someone´s neck.
"Sir, the stairs in the pit… she fell down, where there's no railing. They´re taking her to the infirmary, Sir. I didn't know she was pregnant." Eric and Four exchanged panicked looks.
"What do you mean, she was?" Eric took predatory steps towards him, but Four stepped into his way, holding out his hands.
"I don't know anything, Sir. But she fell pretty far. But there was a doctor right away, so... I have no idea!", he was getting distressed.
Without another glance at him, both men ran out of the training room, towards the infirmary.
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When Wayne, who was pacing in front of the treatment room, running his hands through his hair, heard the doors being slammed against the wall, he knew exactly, who had arrived.
He hurried towards Eric, who looked ready to murder someone.
"Where is she?", he shouted, making several nurses flinch.
Wayne grabbed the front of his vest, to prevent him from doing something stupid.
"They had to take her into surgery. She broke her wrist when she fell and she had bleedings. They don't know if your baby will be fine. I´m so sorry, man."
"What do you mean, they don't know?" Eric pushed him away. "I want to know what is happening, right now. I have to see her."
"You can't go in there, Sir. They are operating." A nurse approached him. "As soon as we…"
"Who the hell do you think you are, telling me what I can and can't do?!" Eric got more riled up every second.
But Four had enough of it. Grabbing the front of his vest, like Wayne did, he slammed his superior against the wall, his head recoiling off the stone.
"Now you listen to me." Four hissed. "That is my sister and my nephew in there, so don't think you´re the only one who cares, because we all do."
"That is my child in there. And it could be dying." Eric screamed, resulting in another slam against the wall.
"If you would shut up for just a second, Wayne can tell us everything you want to know. You behaving like a selfish asshole will result in nothing for once." He let go of the vest, pushing Eric away from him. Four raked his hand through his hair, before asking Wayne to recount everything, now that he successfully shut Eric up.
"She brought me a folder and we went to get something to eat. As she was walking away, to bring Maggs her coffee, she came close to a group of initiates and the brown haired one, you know Kayla, I think, stumbled into her. You know the one she threw a knife at."
Four looked at Eric, who look deadly calm by now.
"Are you telling me what I think you do?"
Wayne closed his eyes and dropped his head in defeat.
"I don't know. But it didn't really look like an accident. She staggered way too unnatural… And it would be too big of a coincidence…"
Eric had balled his fist so tight, that his knuckles went white.
He walked to the front desk, where the nurse informed him that he would have to wait at least an hour for news, since Amy was just being prepped for surgery.
Having his answer, his walked to the doors. Crossing the hall, he was halted from Four´s hand on his chest.
"Don't do something impulsive or something you might regret."
Eric looked him square in the eyes, before replying.
"Don't worry, I won't."
And with that he was out the door.
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Eric knew exactly where he would find his initiates. Arriving at the mess hall, the way took him almost half of what it usually would. He barged through the doors like the man on a mission he was.
Taking a glance at the raised platoon, where he would normally sit, he saw with satisfaction that none of the other leaders were there to stop him.
And there she was. The innocent looking little girl, that could in this moment have destroyed his life.
He came to a halt right behind her, feeling calm and completely content with what he was about to do.
"Initiate, stand."
She did as he said and turned around to look at him. She even dared to smile at him suggestingly. "Sir?"
"I have a few questions for you, initiate."
He saw her gulping. She was afraid.
Good. She should be.
"Everything for you, Sir."
"Great. Let´s start." Eric took her hand and pulled her into the middle of the mess hall. Everyone around them stopped, to look at what expired in front of them.
To give his victims a false sense of security has always been one of Eric´s strengths.
Some could say it was a treat only sociopaths possessed, but he didn't care.
It was getting the job done.
"Let´s begin with an easy question. Where have you been half an hour ago?"
He played with her fingers.
Being quite smug with the outcome, she answered him. "I was at the pit."
He smiled at her. "Seems plausible. Have you witnessed what happened there?"
She blinked rapidly.
"Oh, you mean that chick falling down the stairs? I saw it, but I was nowhere near her." This time Eric beamed.
"Wrong answer." And with that he took her pointer finger and thrusted it back, hard.
The crack of the bone and the following scream vibrated through the stone, bringing a strange feeling of satisfaction to Eric.
"Why don't we try again?" he said, grabbing another finger.
"Stop, please stop. I was walking the opposite direction and she came than the stairs, okay?" Kayla wailed, trying to get out of his death grip.
"That wasn't so hard, was it.", Eric asked softly. "Keep up the good work."
The initiate cried, trying with pleading eyes to will anyone to help her. But no one would even think of speaking to Eric, much less asking for mercy.
"I want you think good about your next answer. You see, I don't like people lying to me. So…
were you the one that pushed her?"
The girl started wailing, as he took her middle and ring finger into his hand.
"Yes, I stumbled against her and she fell."
Eric hummed in appreciation. "Tell me, did you do it on purpose? Maybe out of… revenge?"
"No, no! I didn't. It was an accident. She just fell. Why would I do that?"
He sighed. "Why don´t I believe you?"
Pushing the two fingers back, they broke just like wigs, nothing to keep against his strength, just like the first one had.
Her ear-piercing screams slowly caused Eric a headache. "Last chance to tell me the thruth, sweety."
"Okay, I pushed her! I pushed her because she had it coming! She threw a knife at me! She could have killed me!" She screamed at him, clutching the broken fingers to her chest.
"Oh, you´re going to wish she did." He whispered softly in her ear, before speaking up.
"Seems like this was the first time in your life that you managed to hit bulls-eye."
He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the mess hall, calling over his shoulder to the petrified initiates. "Follow me."
He lead them into the pit and up the stairs, Amy fell down only a few hours ago. Having a sense of foreboding, the initiate started to struggle in his grip, but she was no match to him.
They arrived at the top of the ledge and Eric looked over the edge.
"It´s pretty high, isn't it? No one would survive such a fall." And with that he took her arm with the unbroken fingers and swung her over the drop. Her scream was matched by another one. Undoubtly the one of the blonde candor.
"Let´s make this interesting, shall we?" he managed to sound professional. "You hang there for, what can I say… An hour? And I will forget that you may be responsible for the death of my girlfriend and my unborn child." At this revelation, not just the initiates gasped, but also all of the members that were watching them in horror. Only a few ever saw Eric losing control to this extent.
"Please, I didn't know, I didn't know!" she wailed, clinging to Eric's arm.
He lowered her, until her hand gripped the edge of the stone, then let go and rose to his full height.
"So now you have three options. First: hang here for an hour, let go and die or give up and become factionless. Please be aware that I am pretty considerate right now, since you somehow managed to hurt your hand. What a shame."
"Please, Sir. Can't you let her off please?" her candor friend at least tried to help her, but Eric´s glare shut her down.
"If you don't plan on sharing her faith, you better shut up, right now." Whimpering, she retreated.
"What will it be?" Eric asked in a voice that reminded of one of a talk master. "Number one, two or three?"
"I can't. I give up!" She screamed. Eric being aware of that, gestured to two of the boys to hail her up.
Realizing, he had to get back to the infirmary, he pushed through the people, that were parting like to red sea.
"Oh, and Kayla? You better be out here as soon as possible. I´m going to the infirmary and if I find out, that one of them died, I will hunt you down and end you."
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Fifteen minutes later, Eric was once again at the infirmary. Leaning his head against the door, he took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
The first thing he saw was Four talking to his brother.
What was he doing at dauntless?
Four was rubbing his forehead, before his shoulders sagged. He couldn't say if it was in relief or grief.
The young leader walked towards them, looking wearily at his brother, who gave him a sympathic smile.
"She just came out of surgery."
"How is she? How are they." Eric wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answers.
But before anyone could say anything, Four had thrown his arms around Eric, squeezing him, who just stood there and couldn't belief, what was happening right know.
From all the persons to hug him, he would have pegged Four as the last one on his list.
But as he spoke, Eric knew why he did it.
Relief.
"They´re okay. They will both be okay."
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Another long night here in Germany… I kind of freaked myself out with the finger scene. But he still is my favorite psychopath. :D
Thanks for reading 3