Hi guys, finally! Finally I am managing to get this out! I'm so sorry for the awefully long wait! I will be trying to update this and my other stories as well soon :)
Please, do tell me what you think!
I do not own Divergent or its characters.
Tris awoke in the middle of the night and smiled when she felt Eric's arm around her waist and his body snuggled up to her. They had finally confessed their love for each other and it made her happy to be able to wake up next to him. Opening her eyes she frowned because it was dark outside and only the faint light of the lamp outside in the backyard lit up the room slightly. She turned slowly not wanting to wake Eric and apparently his sleep was so deep that he didn't notice her turning in his arms.
Smiling to herself Tris looked at the man who not long ago had terrified her more than anything. He looked innocent and young in his sleep, his usual scowl was replaced by a soft expression of pure relaxation. She didn't want him to leave, she had told him again before they fell asleep. A sigh and a whispered 'I love you' was the only answer she got before he pulled her against him and they doze off.
A faint shout from outside caught her attention suddenly. She sat up on her ellbow and strained her ears. Looking down at Eric she smiled because nothing seemed to be able to wake him up. Then there were more shouts and she turned and sat up in the bed. An incoherent mumble from behind her was the only indication she got that he had noticed her moving away from him, but otherwise he remained fast asleep.
After quickly putting on her clothes she looked down on Eric's sleeping form, for a moment she considered waking him but for some reason she thought otherwise and left the room. Walking through the living room she heard faint gun shots and the noises outside increased their volume. When she stepped out on the porch at first she didn't see anything but there were more shouts and cries in the distance. It sounded like there were some fights near the assembly hall and her blood froze at the realisation that apparently whatever attack Four was implying yesterday was already in progress.
Tris quickly ran back into the house and shouted, "Guys, Amity is under attack!" Not waiting for Christina, Will or Eric to follow her, she sprinted outside again in the direction where the noise were coming from. There were even more guns fired and the closer she got to the assembly hall, she could see heavy military trucks standing in the fields, inbetween houses and dark clad men streaming out of them. Some Amity were returning fire and Tris tried to make herself as small as possible as she advanced onto the battle field.
Peaking slowly around the corner of a house, Tris made out men and women clad in black and dark blue attire. They moved fast and stormed into the houses seemingly searching for something or someone - probably her. Her blood ran cold when she thought of innocent people dying because of her.
She poised her weapon, started breathing as slowly as she possibly could, aimed and fired at one of the intruders' legs. She hit the target right on and crouched down into hiding, waited a few moments and then stood up to aim again. The intruders were dragging away the injured man and looked about for her whereabouts.
Her mind was racing and just when she was about to turn around to see whether the others had followed her, Tris suddenly felt the barrel of a gun press against the back of her head. Her heart stuttered in her chest as she heard the click of the safety being switched off.
"Look who we have here," a familiar voice drawled behind her and she quickly matched it to Max'. Tris turned quickly in order to slap the gun away from her head. Yet she gasped when Max caught her swinging arm, twisting her wrist he knocked the gun out of her hand. He caught her throat in a deathly grip and pushed her against the wall of the house. Gasping for air Tris tried to wriggle free from his grip. He grunted with the effort to keep her still and not get struck by her flailing arms and legs, but all the kicking and trashing didn't have an effect on this experienced warrior.
Pressing the barrel of the gun against her temple, he chuckled darkly, "Being in Amity for so long, you lost somewhat of your fighting skills, huh?" Before she could retort anything, he slapped her with the gun across the face and her world turned black.
When she awoke she was kneeling on the ground close to a truck. It was still dark and she heard voices. Some of them were congratulating Max for the quick succession in finding 'Jeanine's priority target'. Her head was pounding and her jaw felt slightly swollen where he had hit her. Shaking her head, she tried to focus on who was around her, yet except for Max she hardly regocnized anyone in his troop. One of his guards was holding her in place with a tight grip on her shoulder. She looked down at her hands which were in handcuffs and sighed in silent frustration. She swung her head around to see whether they had captured anyone else and whether she could see the extent of the fight, whether anyone got hurt and whether anyone had even noticed that she got captured.
Her eyes were blurry but when she saw a familiar pair of shoes she slowly looked up to see Eric walking towards her. Her heart dropped when she saw a deep scowl plastered onto his face and his eyes were locked on her.
"Eric!" Max exclaimed when he saw him, "So they didn't kill you off after all!" But Eric didn't answer, his eyes were fixated on Tris who was torn between hope that he would fight against Max and free her, and fear that this might have been his plan all along. She strained her neck to look up at him when he came over to her and saw a slight trail of blood under his nose. He looked so terribly different from when she last saw him in his bed next to her and it almost broke her heart. He looked as cold as he did during initiation.
"Well, look who I managed to catch," Max boasted towering over her and Eric nodding curtly before returning his attention back on Tris. He knelt down in front of her and grabbed her chin to turn her face. His thumb gently caressed over her cheek and she flinched when pain shot through her. She had to fight back tears when their eyes met, a few hours ago they had been full of compassion. She had thought that he had changed, that his feelings for her were true. He had confessed his love for her. But now there was nothing. "Eric..." she whispered in hope that he was only faking it.
Ignoring her he snorted and addressed Max, "You got her pretty good." The expression on his face did not change, not even a tiny bit. Max laughed, "Yeah, she put up a fight, so I had to knock her out." Eric didn't react but locked his eyes with hers. Tris' blood started boiling when Four's words from last night came back to her. "Mark my words, Tris, when Jeanine arrives here to get you, your lover will go back to being the good lap dog he was taught to be!" And she had to refrain from spitting at Eric for how angry it made her, that Four seemed to have been right all along.
Max frowned when Eric silently stared at Tris, "Hey, by the way, what happened? What's the bloody nose about?" Eric absent-mindedly wiped his nose with the back of his hand, looking at his hand with surprise as if he didn't even notice but then he shrugged, "Nothing much, just ran into Four, that's all."
When he rose to his feet Tris noticed the gun in his hand and something snapped inside her. In a very long time she hadn't been as angry at anyone as she was now with Eric. Not only had he made her feel something for him, for him out of all people. But he had also made her believe that he had changed, that he would never hurt her. And she had even defended him in front of Four who had tried to tell her about Eric's plan. Only to be betrayed in the worst way possible.
Her face twisted into a snarl and she jumped to her feet. Freeing herself from the guard's grip who was trying to hold her down, she threw herself at Eric, pounding her handcuffed hands against his chest angrily. He tried stepping back to avoid her wrath but she came launching after him, "This was what you had planned all along, wasn't it? You son of a-" In the blink of an eye Eric had grabbed her wrist and twisted her around pressing her back to his chest. Tears were threatening to run freely down her cheek and she gasped when she felt his hot breath on her ear as he leaned down to her.
Tris squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to wake herself from this nightmare but when she opened her eyes again, she realized that this was no dream at all. She had never felt as confused as she did now, a few hours ago she had loved his dominance over her, now it made her sick. It seemed that he needed a moment to come up with whatever evil remark he wanted to throw her way. She blinked as it felt like forever that he was silently holding her in a tight grip, breathing angrily against her ear.
She looked over to see Max smirking, standing a few feet away he shared some amused glances with the other men as they watched Tris make a scene. She flinched when Eric snarled loud enough that everyone could hear him, "Look, you were a pretty decent fuck but if you don't want to get killed," he paused to twist her back around towards him. His face was merely inches away from hers and his voice changed to an angry hiss which only she was able to hear, "And you ever so much as considered trusting me," he leaned forward and the world seemed to slow down around them when his voice dropped to a whisper right next to her ear, "You better start now."
Before she was able to wrap her mind around whether he had just humiliated and threatened to kill her or hinted at trying to help her, he shoved her forward with more force than she expected and she stumbled backwards to the ground. With a grunt she landed on her behind and stared up at him. He stared right back, his typical smirk showing on his face now, but it didn't reach his eyes. She faintly heard Max and his minions howl with laughter. Even Eric's voice sounded as if she was under water when he snapped at her loud enough for everyone to hear, "Got it, Stiff?"
Eric rolled his eyes in annoysance when Max clapped his shoulder still laughing, "It's good to see you haven't lost any of your viciousness here in Amity!" Tris was still too dumbfounded at what had just happened that she didn't struggle when one of the guards dragged her to her feet and pushed her towards the truck. As if in trance she entered the vehicle and didn't fight when she was shoved into a seat.