One year… that's about how long it took for Dauntless and the city to get back to business as usual; a lot has changed though. With the uprising it left a lot of questions and uncertainties in the minds of our faction. Both Max and Sophie stepped down from leadership. Sophie more gracefully than Max, the faction rebelled against Max as he was cowardice in hiding out during the bombings and after that Sophie was collateral damage. With our little video broadcast Four and I had taken their places, with nothing but support from our faction, without meaning to we stepped up and saved everyone. It was the first time in the history of the faction systems there had been such a youthful leadership fully in charge, however many of the factions followed our lead, adding a new youthful member to their standing leaders. The one thing that did come out of the uprising was the need for change and growth, and having a new generation in leadership would allow that to happen. Eric had really taken to being in charge as he had the most experience he was the number one leader, Four and I simply were there for support and to occasionally talk him down from crazy ideas.
I had moved in with Eric almost immediately after the uprising occurred. I was spending every night with him and one day when I went back to my apartment I found it locked and my key not working. I returned to Eric's and found all my things had been moved in, and I never questioned it. I simply turned in my keys and got a copy of his. We could argue at work but as soon as we walked through the door it was as though nothing happened. We fought just as always but nothing was coming between us. I had not weakened him, I had made him stronger, together it was impossible to beat us, and though I was the only real 'soft spot' Eric had I certainly had not turned him soft. He was just as ruthless as before.
Though many things had changed and would continue to change the best part of the uprising was that it seemed to bring people closer together, showed all of our city's occupants that we have a common bond and we might not be as different as we once had thought. The best part was Four and Eric rebuilding their lost friendship, more and more it seemed I found them together, Eric always said it was for work but I could see the laughing and smiles. Even if they never got back to being best friends at least Eric knew he had one more person he could count on, I would even find Four in my spot at the table in the mess hall if I was running late, and for that I was eternally grateful.
The hardest part was losing Blake. He had been right next to a bomb when it detonated. I must have cried for a week after getting the news, Blake was one of the good ones, a diehard Dauntless solider through and through. The meeting with Four and Eric and Evelyn had all been a ruse, they didn't wait 2 hours to attack they attacked while Eric and Four were away, I knew it was because Evelyn didn't want Four getting hurt and that was the only way she could ensure that, but the official reason was they wanted the leaders separated for tactical advantage. Evelyn and all other guilty factionless were locked up in some of the holding cells built in old towers, where they would spend the rest of their lives. The council had decided enough blood had been shed and much to the dismay of Dauntless mercy was shown. But today was about celebrating, about getting back to some of our traditions and I was happy to participate.
"Listen up," Eric yelled over our entire faction, they had gather in the mess hall. Four and I stood on either side of him as we usually did. "The brackets have been posted; many things were taken into consideration for these including age, strength, speed, and initiate rankings. Please locate your name and report to your designated area. Fight hard." The crowd erupted into cheers and everyone sprinted over to find their names.
"What mat am I on?" I asked. Eric and Four had made the brackets without me as I didn't know a lot of our faction members still and certainly did not know how to rank them for a tournament like this.
"Mat 3, I am on mat 1 and Four on mat 5. You are fighting first in your bracket; I am fighting last so we can watch each other." He explained. I nodded feeling the nerves wake up my senses. After everything that happened I didn't see the point in this tournament, I was clearly already respected by my peers, but Eric insisted and everyone in Dauntless seemed equally excited about it. Only full Dauntless members were allowed to fight, none of the younger kids.
"Are you nervous?" I asked him. There was a lot of pressure on Eric to win, because he was the best, I mean everyone expected it to come down to Four and him in the finals. Everyone was also gunning for him; it would be a very big accomplishment for any Dauntless member to take down Eric. The tournament was all single round elimination people were in 6 person brackets, ranked 1-6. First rank fought 6th ranked and then 2 fought 5 and so on; it was intended to make the best fighters make the finals.
"I have no reason to be," he laughed.
"If I am fighting first does that mean you ranked me as 1?" We had reached the Pit where all the mats had been set up. It was a mad house. I watched people warm up and try to get lose.
"You are not ranked first," he told me.
"What?! You ranked me 6th? What the hell?" I snapped. "Who am I fighting?"
"Christina," he said, I could tell he was trying to hide a smile.
"I am going to kill you," I warned him. In all fairness though I would have ranked Christina higher than me too, going off of initiation; a lot had changed though and I was a lot stronger than people realized, working with Four and Eric only they really knew how good I was.
"You have not shown you are that strong of a fighter," he explained. I glared at him before walking away; I wanted to see where everyone was ranked. I located the brackets and noticed they were for the most part split by age and gender. There wouldn't be a coed fight until the semifinals. I saw Keke was also in my bracket and ranked above me which was clearly Eric's idea of a joke. I would fight her if we both won our fights. I made my way back over to the mat; Eric was standing there with a grin on his face.
"You are not funny," I said.
"It was Four's idea," he replied.
"Why aren't you ranked first in your pool?" I asked that was a pretty big hit to his ego.
"I wanted to be here to watch you fight," he said. Damn him, playing the adorable card. It was impossible for me to stay angry at him sometimes. I walked up to the mat as it was time to begin. The good part was everyone would under estimate me, and even better I knew exactly how Christina fought and where her weaknesses were, she was over aggressive and often times forgot to cover her sides, always on the attack never on defense, I met her in the middle of the mat.
"No hard feeling when I beat you right?" she asked with a smirk.
"Of course." We took a few steps apart and then it was on. She charged at me attempting to kick me. I was ready, I dodged her kick her momentum carried her forward and I was able to get a kick to her back forcing her onto the ground.
"Where did that come from?" she asked scrambling back to her feet. I just shrugged my shoulders, being seen as an underdog was going to be working in my favor at least in this bracket; the older members would not be so foolish. She took a big swing for me, I deflected her hit straight up leaving her face exposed and was able to make contact twice before kicking her in the side, causing her to fall to the ground. I took the opportunity to kick her same side, hoping she would concede and she did. Blood coming from her nose, she crawled off the mat and I was victorious. I walked over to Eric who had a smile on his face, I couldn't help the cheesy grin that spread across mine, it felt good to beat Christina. I walked into his waiting arms; he squeezed me tight before letting go.
"Not even a scratch on you," he said.
"She was expecting the little girl from initiation, it was a little too easy," I replied.
"Well now everyone will know how vicious you really are."
"You always knew it."
"Of course, I could only love a monster as equally as cruel as me," he teased.
"I am not a monster," I said, shoving him. "Let's go watch Four fight, he is fighting second right?" Eric agreed and we walked down to mat 5. The first fight was still happening, he looked surprised to see me.
"Didn't you fight first?" he asked.
"Already done," I gloated.
"Not a mark on you, well done."
"Who are you fighting?"
"Stephen, he was in my initiate class. He works on the fence, not very good. Strong but doesn't play it too smart," Four explained.
"The brackets are meant to eliminate the weak ones pretty easily; we want the best fighters to make it farther so the finals are actually a good fight. There will be some upsets but I would not imagine many," Eric said.
"I was just an upset," I pointed out to him.
"But no one but us knew you would be," Four added. They smiled to each other, "I might be a little nervous if I had to fight you, your speed sometimes gets the best of me." That much I knew, and I knew their fighting styles very well, and knew their weaknesses, but reversely they knew mine. It was finally Four's turn. He walked up and said a few words to Stephen, who actually looked pretty fired up to be fighting against Four. They began and Four took a couple hard hits before he managed to get Stephen to the ground, and once he did it was all but over, Four beat him until he conceded. I cheered and was happy to see he would be moving on.
Time went on and Eric beat his match very quickly, I was sad that Keke and I would not match up as she lost first round. The tournament played out well and by the end of day one myself, Four, Eric, and Swizz were some one the winners, Tori had won her bracket, it looked like tomorrow would be a lot more work than today was. I had taken a few hard blows but compared to being hit by Eric or Four I was feeling good. After bracket play we fought one last time, before heading into tomorrow where the top 8 would compete. I only had to win 2 fights to make it to the finals, I was the only female left, but it wasn't enough. After all the fights had finished the winners were broken up into divisions based upon fighting capability. The tournament was well set up, winners were already declared for some of the lower brackets, it was impossible for all Dauntless to contend for the championship so lower brackets were formed, winners had the option to fight for a spot but were usually too banged up, and with all the injuries many winners could not continue after the first day.
"Did you see who you are fighting against tomorrow?" Eric asked, once we were home and on the couch.
"I forgot to look, isn't it randomly assigned at this point?"
"Yeah, Four and I drew numbers out of a hat and paired them accordingly. You got Swizz first thing tomorrow." I could tell Eric expected me to have a problem with that but I simply shrugged my shoulders.
"I can beat him, he is slow. As long as he doesn't get a full swing on me I will be fine." Eric laughed before yanking me off the couch and carrying me to bed.
…
I woke up the next day feeling a little nervous, Swizz was one of my best friends and now I was going to have to fight him. I sprung out of bed and ate a light breakfast. I needed energy but at the same time I didn't want to get sick. Eric came up from behind and put his hand on my shoulder. I almost jumped out of my skin, he scared me so bad.
"For how large you are I would think you would make some more noise," I chided him. He was always doing that to me.
"I make plenty of noise; you just don't listen, always wrapped up inside your own head," he replied.
"Well make so damn noise," I said, not in the mood.
"Why are you so jumpy, I thought you said you could beat Swizz," he asked. Not liking my tone.
"I just think it will be hard to fight him. We always have each other's back and now one of us is expected to concede. I just think it is going to be weird," I explained.
"Swizz won't concede you have to know that, you are going to have to knock him out if you want to proceed." I did know that, and I was dreading it more and more. "You didn't seem to have a problem knocking Christina down."
I laughed as I thought about it, "she was so smug she deserved a good kick in the ass." I was feeling calmer the more he talked to me. "Do you think I can beat him?" I asked. If Eric really thought I could do it then I had no reason to doubt myself he would never lie to me.
"Tris I think you could beat me in the right situation, all the work you put in, you are so fast it is hard to get the best of you sometimes." I could tell he was being genuine and he was right I had hurt him in training before, working with Four and him all the time had really prepared me for this.
"The right situation?" I laughed.
"Calm it down killer," he said, squeezing my sides, causing me to burst out into laughter. I shoved him off as quickly as I could. He had made all my nerves disappear.
"Want to head down with me?" I asked.
"I head to my office first; I will be there before you start though, sound good?" I nodded and headed out, I wanted to get warmed up, and I would need to be prepared. I had lots of people wishing me luck, there was going to be a large crowd watching. Swizz and I were the first fight of the day, and before I knew it I was on the mat. Eric was standing with Four and Christina sidelined cheering me on.
"I'm sorry it has to end this way for you," Swizz joked. I smirked at him.
"Just be gentle." He took a step forward and swung for my side. I jumped back and he missed. He took big swings a few misses would tire him out quickly and like I had thought he wouldn't be swinging for my face. He swung again this time a little higher, I ducked under his arm and swept my legs under his feet knocking him to the ground, the moment he made contact I took 3 kicks to his ribcage, he had his head protected. On my 4th attempt he grabbed my foot and yanked me down. I was able to break my fall and roll away from him. I was on my feet before he was his large muscle mass a disadvantage. I ran and kicked him with both my feet knocking him down hard; I landed on my hands and knees and popped up quickly. He tried to get up and I went to knock him back down but he was ready this time. He grabbed me and threw me across the mat, giving himself some time to get up and ready himself. There was so much background noise it was all a blur.
"Damn Tris," Swizz said out of breath. He walked towards me slowly now. He closed the gap and took a quick swing towards my face, I deflected it but left my side exposed just like he had planned and he took a full swing connecting with me. It knocked me down, all the wind leaving my lungs, but I knew I had to get up. I sprang to my feet and tried to gain air. He grabbed me, knocked me down to my knees and got his arm head, my airway was closed. "Just concede," I heard him whisper as I struggled for air. I tried and tried to rip his arm away from my neck. Spots started to cloud my vision but I made eye contact with Eric, and it reminded me of something. I turned my head into Swizz and titled my body allowing the smallest amount of air in, I pulled my thighs closer together and with all my strength drove my elbow into this groin. He released me, I didn't hesitate I caught my balance and then roundhouse kicked him in the head, he was out cold.
I was rushed by a large crowd but all I wanted was space, coughing I needed to breath. I heard lots of congratulations and was pulled up to my feet. Eric made his way to me and moved everyone back. I tried to thank him but no noise came out. He pulled me off the mat and allowed me to catch my breath. "That was harder than I thought," I finally said. My voice was horse and throat hurt to talk.
"You should have escaped sooner, you know how to get out of a headlock," he chided.
"Well it is hard to think clearly when my air supply is cut off, Swizz was way more aggressive than any of the times we practiced it. I thought he was going to snap my neck," I replied. I didn't need a lesson, Eric was being annoying.
"He is more aggressive than me?" he asked getting a look on his face.
"Do not touch me," I warned him, I could already see the mischief in his eyes. He pouted at me but for once in his life decided to listen.
"How is your side? Took a pretty hard hit, knocked you down good."
"No worse than when you or Four do it." I slid down to the floor feeling exhausted, that was a rather long fight, compared to yesterday's round. "I'm going to meet you in the finals," I said, looking up at him. "If I can beat Swizz I can beat everyone else." He had a grin on his face.
"Did you look to see who you fight next?" He asked. I shook my head. "The winner of Four and Max's fight." I put my hand up and he lifted me to my feet. We walked over to see they had already begun. They delivered a lot of hits back and forth, making contact almost every time, both of them on offense very little defense. I could tell this fight was personal, and by the end Four delivered the final blow that knocked Max out. There would be no one conceding in these rounds. Four limped off and over to a chair. He looked beat, one more good hit and he could have easily gone down instead of Max. I walked over to him and he smiled up at me.
"Congrats," I said.
"Thanks," he barely got it out between breaths. I smiled at him but left him be he clearly was not in the mood to talk. Shauna walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder, they had been spending a lot of time together the past few weeks, Four had not mentioned it and I did not feel it was my place to ask. I made my way to the mat, where a family rivalry was about to take place. Zeke was fighting his younger brother Uriah. It was a fun fight to watch Eric was off warming up as he would be next. Eventually big brother won out though and Zeke claimed his spot in the next round. Eric would be fighting Peter, and I was excited to see him knocked out, he was a prick during initiation. When Eric and Peter began it was clear Peter was in way over his head, and there fight was much shorter and pretty boring compared to the others. Eric got a few good hits in early and then it was over. He walked over to meet me with a large grin on his face.
"Make you proud?"
"Always," I told him. Everyone would get a lunch break before the semifinals began. I would face Four and Eric would face Zeke. Eric and I sat by ourselves at lunch.
"I was hoping to fight Uriah," Eric said.
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Zeke is always talking; it is annoying, even when he fights he is talking."
"Ever think he does it to distract people?"
"Well it is stupid and I am going to shut him up," Eric spat. Zeke was all about having a good time; I enjoyed spending time around him he was always laughing. "How are you feeling about facing Four?"
"I think it will be you and Four in the finals as everyone thought, how do you feel about that. Your chance to finally beat him," I asked.
"I guess we will never know," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"Four is pretty badly hurt, and you know it. It is going to slow him down and you have a couple bruises but are basically fresh. If you want to win the fight you can, and then it will be us in the finals."
"Beating him like that doesn't prove much though," I said. But he was right; Four took a much more severe beating than I did.
"You beat a lot of good people to get here; no one is going to say you don't deserve it. Your speed is what has saved you and your ability to see openings. It will be us in the finals."
"And how do you feel about that?" I asked. When I had first talked about wanting to fight in this tournament and face each other Eric did not like the idea, that was over a year ago and a lot had changed between us but I still didn't see him loving the idea of knocking me out.
"Loser cooks dinner for a week right?" he smirked. I rolled my eyes at him.
"No the winner does! If you knock me out I am not cooking for you," I snapped. He laughed but agreed. We finished lunch and headed back for the next round. Eric and Zeke were up first.
Their fight began and Zeke started off really strong, he was actually very fast and delivered hard hits. He made a lot of contact with Eric and I saw it weakening him. Watching him reminded me how exhausted I was, this tournament was supposed to build comradery and show how strong we all are but truth is after being beaten up fight after fight all I felt was the bruises forming and my body begging me to rest. Zeke knocked Eric off his feet and started hitting him swing after swing; my stomach dropped watching him get hit time and time again. I thought it was going to be over, but Eric managed to get himself free and then full on tackled Zeke to the ground. I saw Eric was bleeding from a cut on his head, but he was in beast mode now, he pulled Zeke into a headlock and I saw his arm flex tight. Zeke struggled and struggled, but he surprised me when he tapped out. Eric released him and then fell over to his knees, trying to breath. Both Eric and Zeke looked like they were about to die. I walked over and pulled Eric up. Zeke managed to slowly get to his feet.
"Good fight, that was fun," he said to Eric a smile on his face. His voice was horse and there were a few tears in his eyes but I knew they had formed while in the head lock, your eyes always watered in that situation. Eric blew him off and headed away from the crowd.
"Tris you are up!" Someone yelled.
"Just go, I will find a chair and watch," Eric said, letting go of me. I watched him topple over in a chair by the edge of the mat. I walked to meet Four; I had been so consumed with Eric's fight I forgot to be nervous about mine. Four was looking much better and I didn't see this going very well.
"Good luck," he said. I smiled and simply nodded. He stepped forward to swing and I deflected it. I needed to think, what were Four's weaknesses? He was fast and that usually gave him the advantage but I was faster, he didn't always cover his side when he swung because he was fast enough to recover before the opponent could retaliate. He struggled when he was down on the mat, always a stronger fighter on his feet.
"Don't over think it," he said. I looked at him before swinging, he knew it was coming, he grabbed my arm, twisted it behind my back pulling me close to him. "You gotta do better than that," he taunted. I kicked his leg, he lost balance and I was able to free myself, he got up quick and smirked at me. Max had done most of the damage to his left side that is where I would impact him the most. He rushed towards me, I evaded his grasp and swept my feet under his, he fell face first onto the mat, I heard laughter from the crowd. But I took the opening and kicked him in the side, I saw him wincing. I needed to keep him down. I jumped onto him and began hitting him; he managed to get his feet under me and kicked me headfirst off of him. He fought for what seemed a long time, both of us making a lot of contact. I was dying this was the most exhausting thing I had ever done. I needed to surge. I sprinted full force at Four, he wasn't expecting that. I toppled him over and was just blindly hitting him, trying to use ever ounce of energy I had left as I knew it was almost gone. I felt myself pulled back and looked up to see Eric had pulled me off. I looked over at Four and saw he was unconscious.
"You trying to kill him?" Eric asked with a smirk. I rolled my eyes as he helped me to my feet. I was name the victor and hobbled off.
"So it is me and you?" I asked, trying to breath. I felt like I was going to pass out.
"It is you made it to the finals." I couldn't believe it. Little me, the girl from Abnegation who barely passed initiation, who everyone liked to beat up on. I was one of the strongest Dauntless fighters now. All of my hard work had paid off.
"I think all of my ribs are broken," I whispered inhaling a sharp breath. Everything was killing me. Eric leaned down and put his hand on my ribs, applying pressure in different spots.
"I think you are fine, that was a good fight," he told me. He helped me get away from the crowd. We would fight at 8pm, after dinner so the party celebrating the winner could begin immediately. All I wanted to do was sleep, and Eric made sure I at least go to the couch.
Waking up, everything hurt. I went down to see Susan. She iced me before heating my entire body and helping me stretch, she told me Eric had been by to see her and that he wasn't in too great of shape himself. I honestly was getting more and more excited though, no one thought I could beat Eric including him, but I knew I could. Time came quickly and I was ready.
"Winner makes dinner right?" I asked him, with a smile as we stood with all of Dauntless watching us.
"Right." He agreed. Every nerve in my body was firing I had never felt more alive; with the crowd cheering I was ready to go. They signaled for us to begin and I swung instantly hitting Eric in the throat, he stumbled a bit before preparing himself more now. He reached for me but I evaded his grasp. Eric was slower, but might powerful. I swung for him again but he deflected it grabbing my arm and flipping me over, slamming me to the ground. I doubted he would hit me in the face, though I coved myself just to be sure, I felt some hits to my ribcage but I was quickly able to free myself. I swung again and he caught me arm again, this time I used his grip to get a forceful kick to his chest knocking us both to the ground.
"I hate when you do that," I heard him mumble as we both stumbled back to our feet. I smirked at him, it was something I did often when we practiced, and he always thought it was funny to grab me so I started using it against him. He stepped at me and I was able to deflect his hits until he swung high and hit me square in the face. I fell hard to the ground and black spots clouded my vision. I tried to fight them but I was a goner.
When I came to, it was Eric standing over me Susan behind him. He helped me sit up, my head spinning. "I can't believe you hit me in the face," I whined, feeling the bruise. My head was pounding. Susan stepped forward and handed me an ice pack which I placed on my head. She examined me quickly.
"Looks like a minor concussion. I will need to see you tomorrow for a full evaluation, but nothing too serious. Just expect a lot of bruises and soreness this week," she said.
"Thanks, I will be taking it easy, all my meals are going to be cooked and delivered," I said looking at Eric.
"All your meals?" he laughed. "You mean just dinner."
"You hit me in the face!"
"You weren't blocking it," he said. We both laughed and he pulled me to my feet. The crowd erupted into cheers and I was rushed my friends.
"That was awesome Tris," Christina said.
"I was really rooting for you," Will added, I noticed Christina had a firm grip on Will's hand and it made me happy to see. I could see some wary looks being exchanged from Eric to me. I smiled to myself. I tapped him on the shoulder and he looked down at me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him, he lifted me off the ground and I had to laugh once I hard all the cheers, he placed me back down.
"Nothing is coming between us," he whispered. He kissed me again and then it was time to celebrate. All the heartache of last year, all the changes our faction and city had been through. While many of us were sore and bruised up, it is why we were Dauntless, the city's protectors. We were crazy, and fearless and unstoppable. We are Dauntless.
End.
ALTERNATE ENDING- starting after "…" above
Day 2 of the tournament I woke up feeling very ill. I ran to the bathroom and thought I was dying. After a solid 30 minutes I got up, took a cold shower to relax myself and then headed back into the bedroom to get ready. Eric was up now.
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I must have eaten something bad last night; I was just a bit nauseous. Or maybe a head injury I am going to jog down and see Susan before taking on Swizz."
"It might be delayed effects of a concussion; I need to do some work before the tournament continues. Are you alright to get down there?" Eric asked. I simply nodded and headed out. I did not want any excuse, I wanted to fight hard win or lose I wasn't going to blame it on feeling ill. Susan was wide awake when I went down.
"Hey Tris, congrats on making it this far, are you alright?" she asked. She won her first fight but lost to Tori, I was able to watch it was actually a pretty good fight, Susan was much more powerful than I imagines, being in the recovery room I always thought of her as soft and gentle.
"I just am feeling very nauseated and wanted to make sure I didn't have a head injury or something."
"Same kind of nauseated you were telling me about last week?" she asked.
"Yeah pretty similar actually, it might just be nerves, I am not sure," I said. She looked at me for a long moment before heading back to grab something.
"Let me just prick your finer and make sure you don't have any kind of deficiency since we have talked about this same issue before." She put the little machine up and it pricked my finger taking a small blood sample. "It takes a few minutes for the test I am running," she explained. "Any other sickness been going on?"
"No, I feel great otherwise, been training a lot, best shape of my life. Although it has been getting tougher and tougher. I feel like I have been slowing down, my body isn't responding as well as it usually does. Eric said I am probably just over working it." There was a beep and Susan looked down at the plastic test. And then back at me.
"Tris you can't fight anymore…" she said.
"WHAT?! WHY NOT?!" I yelled I had not been expecting this.
"You are pregnant."
The whole world spun around me. I felt like I was going to be sick again. "I don't understand…" I mumbled. I had just turned 18 a few weeks ago, Eric almost 21… Eric oh no what was he going to do. We had never been much with safety in the bedroom what did I expect to happen; they do a whole course on safe sex the first day of initiation. "What am I going to tell Eric?" It wasn't really directed at Susan more my own fear out loud.
"I don't know but I cannot allow you to fight and I will have to tell Eric a very good reason why not," she said. Her voice was soft as I could tell she knew I was on edge.
"I can't tell him, not before he fights. Oh my god what am I going to do?!" I asked her. "Wait! What if I fight Swizz and just lose? Then no one would know."
"Tris you have a baby inside you, any damage you do to your body you are doing to your baby." Okay not such a good plan. I got up and headed towards the door, I needed to find Eric and I needed to find him now. Eric wasn't fighting first; the matches were staggered so everyone could watch. There was no way I could tell him I was too injured to continue, he saw me fight, saw me barely get hit; he would know something was up. I was going to have to just tell him.
"Hey Tris, where are you going?" It was Swizz. "The Pit is this way," he joked.
"I need to find Eric," I said, feeling out of breath.
"Won't he be at the mat to watch you fight?" Swizz seemed very confused but he was right. I could run around and try and find Eric but he was going to come to me and watch me fight, there was no way he was going to be late for that. I agreed and followed Swizz to the Pit. There was already a large crowd gather, it made me sick, and everyone was going to know. There would have to be an announcement made as to why I could not continue. I saw Eric and felt like I might pass out. I ran over to him and he could tell something was wrong immediately.
"I see the nerves have hit you a little harder now, you look like you are going to be sick," he said. I saw Susan headed towards us. I grabbed Eric's hand and dragged him away from the crowd; I felt all the eyes on me.
"I can't fight," I whispered. Tears were just flowing down my face.
"Why not, are you okay? You can't be that scared," he said knowing that was all but impossible. I could see he was more confused than anything. He knew how important this tournament was to me and how hard I had worked to compete in it.
"I'm… I mean we are…" I didn't know how to say it; I was terrified he would be furious. That it would ruin everything, Eric and I had never talked about a family together. "I can't fight because I am pregnant." I finally said. One statement but it was about to change our whole world. "Eric, I'm sorry." I don't know why I apologized I wasn't sure why I was crying but everything told me this was not in the plan, not how Eric wanted things, he was not exactly cuddly towards kids and we had just finally gotten Dauntless back on track. He didn't say anything and I could tell he was thinking he shook his head as though he was shaking himself back to reality. He immediately bent down on and dug in his pocket before opening a small box in front of me, the box contained a ring that looked to be made out of titanium. It was an engagement ring.
"Tris will you marry me?" he asked.
"Yes." More tears, so many emotions and he had still not reacted to the bomb I had just dropped. He picked me up and kissed me. "Why did you have that in your pocket?" I asked when he did finally release me.
"I was going to ask you after I won the tournament… I wanted everyone to know the only thing worth having is you. I was not the best if I didn't have you," he explained. I couldn't help but laugh a little.
"What were you going to do if you didn't win?" He let out a bark of a laugh and then just stared at me. His over confidence was one of his many flaws but also a big reason I loved him.
"I'm really going to be a father?" he asked me. I just nodded and he squeezed me tight, the excitement in his eyes was all I needed to see. "I have never been happier," he told me.
I followed Eric back into the Pit once we had pulled ourselves together. Eric made an announcement that I was not medically cleared for the fight and that Swizz would fight the second place finisher in my bracket. I watched as people fought my mind thinking a million different things. Watching Eric was always fun, though he had to work much harder to win these fights, Four knocked out Max before losing himself to Swizz, it was amazing watching them fight. When it did come time for the finals it came down to Swizz and Eric… Swizz was built like Eric and his combat skills were much better than I had ever noticed. I couldn't help but think it could have been me up there. I know I could have beaten Swizz; I worked with him a lot and knew there were spots the others were not exploiting. I was not confident I could have gotten past Max and Four but it could have been me. Both the guys were in rough shape, sporting different kinds of black and blue, dried blood found on various parts of their bodies. Watching them fight I found myself cheering for them both, Swizz and I had grown very close, he was always my first choice in a partner or for a mission, I trusted him with my life.
It was Eric who was the victor though Swizz did not concede, he was knocked out as I would have expected. He would never give up if he could still move. Everyone erupted into cheers once he was declared the winner. "The Champion of Dauntless," Four declared. He walked out of the center of the mat and grabbed my hand dragging me back into all the craziness and with all of Dauntless watching said,
"Tris has agreed to be my wife today." An enormous cheer broke out cutting Eric off before he could finish. H waited impatiently for everyone to quiet down. "And has also announced we are expecting our first child." The noise was too loud I had to laugh. I was then tackled by Christina and a few of my other friends; I was being squeezed by everyone who could get their hands on me. Eric tore me free and I was back at his side. "And for those reasons I am the champion of Dauntless," he whispered into my ear. He picked me up a twirled me in a circle before kissing me, and then the celebration began, Dauntless style.
A/N That is it! I could not decide between the two endings so I had to write and post them both. Thank you all so very much. I hope there are many more stories to come.