I struggled sleeping last night. I couldn't get Eric out of my head. And not in a good way. I can't believe I was so ignorant through the first few weeks I've been here, thinking I've been doing just fine. Not good enough clearly. I still have a few weeks left, and I aim to be above that line, and I'm willing to do anything to get there. It's about time I kicked myself up the ass.

I breathed in deep as I noticed my name up on the board for today's fighting schedule. Mine was right next to Peter. Of all the people. Eric clearly did this on purpose. I received a hand squeeze from Tris, and I gave her a small smile before making my way up to the ring. I refused to look at either Four or Eric and instead focused my eyes on the cocky brunette grinning at me.

"Hey Em, look, I just wanna say that I forgive you for hurting my wrist the other day."

I glared at him. "I should've broken it."

Peter looked slightly taken aback by my viciousness.

"Come on. Stop playing with each other." Eric chided, and I tried to ignore him as Peter and I danced with each other.

"You know Michael wouldn't be very proud of his daughter talking with such hostility."

My entire body began to boil, and my hands balled into fists as my dark eyes turned a shade darker.

"You do not have the right to talk about him."

Peter laughed, and I tried to ignore the confused glances my friends sent my way.

"Oh, wait. What about Rosie?"

There was no time for Peter to react before I sent him hurling across the mat. My petite frame landed on his lankier one, and the power behind my punches was laden with incredible rage.

Peter yelled in surprise and pain, but he kicked me off, and I landed harshly on my back. I didn't give him a single chance to pin me down. I scrambled back up and roundhoused him around the face, and his head spun to the side. I bunched his t-shirt in my fist and tugged him closer to me so I could punch him again. And beat him, I did.

Peter cried in pain again, and I paid no attention to the amount of blood running down my arm. Peter thrust his fist into my side, and I cried in pain, and this was enough time for him to land a hit to my cheek. My leg swept underneath him, and he crashed to the floor, landing on his knees and I yanked the back of his hair, and he cried and held where I grabbed him. I threw his head down to my knee and threw his head on the mat before stomping my foot on his head.

He didn't move, and neither did anyone else.

I turned my enraged gaze onto Eric's shocked one. I could feel Peter's warm sticky blood begin to dry on my hands, in my hair and on my face. I panted as I tried to catch my breath and stepped off from the mat.

Four ended up being the first ones to speak. "Someone get him into the medical centre now!" I watched as two of Peter's lackeys picked him up and took him out of the pit.

"Ok, everyone, I think that's training over with today." At Four's dismissal, I slipped silently out of the pit back to the dorms, where I trod into the shower and leaned my head back as the hot water caressed my body.

I didn't even realise tears had shed from my eyes until my body succumbed to the shakes.

I glanced at my bloody hands and cried frustratingly, trying to wipe away the memories.

After scrubbing away Peter's dried blood, I got out of the shower and laid on my bed, ignoring the others. That was until Tris shook me gently.

"Hey."

I turned over and faced her.

"Hey," I grumbled.

"You ok?" She asked softly, and I didn't answer, just stared at her. "Look, you don't have to talk, ok? I want you to know that I'm here. Whatever it is, it's in the past, and it doesn't mean you're the same person you were then."

I paused and furrowed my eyebrows in thought. After a few minutes of silence, I sat up, gently pushing my hair behind my ears.

" Is Peter ok?"

Tris nodded. "He's a little beaten and bruised, but it's nothing he didn't deserve."

I sighed deeply. " I don't know what came over me. I've known Peter for a long time, and I.." I trailed off in thought. "I was completely out of control."

Before Tris could speak, we were bombarded by our group, all laughing and smiling.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Tasmanian devil herself." Will laughed.

"I'm sorry. What did you call me?" I replied.

"Tasmanian devil? You know 'cuz they're cute but go into this fit of rage when-"

Will stopped talking when he noticed all eyes were on him.

"What Will is trying to say is that was badass." Chris giggled.

I let out a small smile. "Thanks, guys."

"Peter got what was coming to him, and something tells me he won't be pissing you off for a while." Chris continued.

I did let out a little giggle at that and held up two crossed fingers. "Let's hope."

We all laughed but stopped when Four came into the dorms.

"Everyone has five minutes to get down to the tracks. We're gonna play a little game."

Four beckoned us over, and I glanced around at all the containers on the train.

"The game's simple. It's just like capture the flag."

"Weapon of choice." Eric held up a gun and showed us all as he picked up the dart to go with it.

"You call that a gun?" Molly scoffed, and Eric shot her in retaliation, and we watched as she hit the train's wall hard and she grabbed her leg in pain.

"Neurostim dart. It simulates the pain of a real gunshot wound, only lasts a couple of minutes. Two teams. Four and I are captains."

"You pick first." Four offered.

Eric smirked. "Ok. Emily."

I looked at him in shock but walked over to his side of the team.

"I'll take the stiff." I pouted slightly as I watched my friend stand beside Four.

When we all jumped off the train, Eric's group consisted of Me, Chris, Will, Molly, and a few of the Dauntless borns. I watched as Eric leaned against an old post, arms folded, not doing anything, but I ignored him as a Dauntless born started talking.

"We should hide the flag in plain sight; they won't see it coming."

I furrowed my eyebrows and shook my head. "Four is too smart for that. He won't fall for it."

"What about high ground?" Another spoke.

Christina nodded. "That could work. It'd be difficult to get to but somewhere where the defence can be on the lookout."

There were murmurs of agreement, and we all decided on an old carnival ride but one that was stuck at the top.

"Ok, which of us are going to hide it? I'm afraid of heights, so not it." Dauntless born Adam asked.

I put my hand up. "I'll go. Heights don't bother me that much. Maybe we should divide into offence and defence; that way, Four's team will take longer to find the flag. Shall we say five each?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. Here." Adam passed me the flag, and I began climbing the rusty metal rigging of the ride.

As I got halfway, I observed Christina, Will, Molly, Eric and a Dauntless born Sarah take offence while Adam, Tucker, Poppy, Muri and myself were on defence.

As I got to the top of the ride, I took a breath to steady myself before pulling out the flag and tying it to the highest point I could find before finding my way back to the ground.

I hid behind the container where Poppy hid. "What's the plan?" I whispered.

"We've got each of us around the area, and the offence has spread out to corner Fours team. It's just waiting to see who gets found first." Poppy answered, and I nodded in reply. I saw an empty area and crouched as I ran towards it silently.

I leaned against the container, my back against it as I strained my ears to hear signs of incoming attacks.

"They've found us!" I heard Adam yell and prepared myself for the fight coming.

I whirled around the corner and aimed at someone on the other team. I managed to shoot them in the arm, and they went down. I whipped around to the other side and cursed as I missed. They popped their head up again, and I managed to shoot them in the shoulder. I glanced to my right and yelled to Poppy as someone came up behind her, but she managed to hit them just in time. I had been too distracted and didn't realise someone had managed to get halfway. As I aimed, I cursed as something clicked inside the gun.

"I'm jammed!" I yelled, and just as the person I now could tell was Beth, another Dauntless born spun around the corner. I grabbed their gun and threw them off balance before knocking them out with the butt of the weapon. I heard shots firing behind me, so I grabbed the gun off the body and aimed quickly, but the person held their arms up in surrender and backed off once I realised who it was.

"Where are the others?" I asked Eric.

"The girls are capturing the flag, and we are helping you."

"They found it?" I asked.

Eric nodded. "Yeah, they only had three guards, so we took our chances."

I nodded. "Where's Fou-"

I didn't even have time to make a sound before Eric grabbed the protective vest I had on and hurled me against the back of the container. I landed with a rough 'umph' and I was sure it would leave a bruise in the morning. Eric's solid body against mine, he peered around the corner, gun raised. He let off four shots in quick concession and turned back down to me.

"Holy shit," I whispered in surprise.

"Never let your guard down." His voice significantly lowered and breathy. "I might not be there to save you next time." He pushed against the container and ran towards the girls who were yelling their victory. I stood stunned as I tried to process what just happened.

Poppy came bounding over to me, dragging me with the crowd as we celebrated our victory. We all laughed and cheered.

"Hey, you guys should come with us!" Poppy yelled in delight.

"Where?" Christina asked. Tris called our names, and we waved her and the others over.

"We know a shortcut back, and it's a little initiation ritual, dauntless style." She grinned playfully.

"That sounds awesome." Will approved.

"Great, let's go!" We all ran after the Dauntless borns, all mingling as we followed them to the shortcut.

I gasped in awe and ran to the edge of the building that we climbed up.

"Oh my God. This is amazing!" I laughed gleefully.

"If you think this is good, wait till you try it out." I heard a familiar voice and turned.

"Dean!"

Dean laughed and hugged me. "Hey, Emily. I told you I'd see you soon."

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Joining a Dauntless tradition, of course. You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun without me, did you?" His eyes glimmered humorously.

"Emily! It's your turn!" I glanced behind Dean to see Christina waving me over.

I grabbed Dean's arm and ran up to the zipline where the others had all congregated. Another Dauntless helped get me clipped in, and I introduced Dean to the others.

"Alright, all in?"

I nodded excitedly.

"Don't forget to pull the break at the bottom!" They shouted as they pulled me back as far as they could go and launched me off the roof.

I drew in a sharp breath as I took in the sights before me. It felt like something had just lifted an excessive weight off me, and I could finally breathe again. The lights in the cool, dark air were breathtaking, and I held my arms out like I was flying and shouted to the high heavens gleefully.

I laughed incredulously as I dropped down through a broken, abandoned building; the drop was not feeling too great on my stomach but fun.

I could make out other Dauntless members, and they all yelled as they saw me coming.

"Pull the break!" They shouted, and I reached back behind me and pulled the lever.

Everyone cheered as people helped me down, and I ran over to Tris.

"That was fucking awesome!"

Tris laughed at me. "It was insane!"

We all walked in on a silver cloud together, and Dauntless leader Max addressed us, authority radiating from him.

"Initiates!" We all paused. "If you ranked above the red line, you'll move onto the second stage of training. If you're below it, we'll waste no more time on you. Here are your rankings."

I held my breath as the names came up onto the board one by one. There are hounds of cheers as peoples names are added, and I exhaled as I saw every one of my friends, even my new ones, come on the board. And my own. At a very healthy twenty-three, two behind Tris.

"We made it!" Will cheered and grabbed us all in a bear hug.

"Will!" We screamed in laughter.

I giggled as I fought my way out of the suffocating hug and clocked eyes with observant blue ones. Eric nodded to me and uncrossed his arms as he left the pit, and I watched curiously as he left.

Here's to another chapter! I had fun writing this one. It started a little dark but took a wonderful turn at the end. I don't tend to have a plan when writing these chapters; I see where the characters take me. I hope you enjoyed it.