A/N: I'm not so thrilled with how this one came out. *shrugs* Anyway, as promised, I shall still upload it...
The quotes are from CoM: Book 1: Sandry's Book page 116 (or thereabouts depending on your copy.) ^^ I have edited this a bit to reflect the quote and because I am still not 100% satisfied with it (but then again, I do grade myself rather harshly...) :)
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Title: Guardian Angel
Rating: G
Prompt: Malorie's Peak Prompt #20: Faith
Summary: Niko tries to get Tris to trust him. What makes her put her faith in him, after so many have failed her?
Word count: 300 words
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To trust is to give someone a part of yourself.
It is difficult. It is sometimes necessary.
He looked at her and sighed. "I wish that by now you could trust me."
"Everyone I ever trusted sent me away," she said flatly.
Tris wishes to trust him. She wants to believe in him. But past experience has taught her that betrayal is so easy. She believes that trust is a far-fetched hope. A dream that can never come true.
Niko stays awake that night, trying to figure out what he can do. She is the only one who has not trusted him by now. She is the only one who doesn't understand that he really does want the best for her.
He knows for sure that she has academic magic when she is the only one of the four children to scry in oils and water and see something every time.
He ponders what this means for him. He sighs and tosses his head. His travels will resume. He just has to wait another year.
She finally has some faith in him, but a little voice in his head insists it's only because she wants to live. After reading about those who didn't make it, she appreciates her own good fortune.
He is grateful to Frostpine for lending him that particular copy of Daring the Wheel: Those Who Defied Nature's Magic.
But it is not until the earthquake that she really trusts him.
He sees it in her eyes.
She was desperate. And now she has been saved.
He sees her dream - the dream in which she calls him her angel. Her guardian angel. Her savior.
He wonders where that faith, that trust, came from.
It snuck up on him. Her guardian angel.
He smiles.