The tinny sound of beeping wove its way through Tris' unconscious dreams, nudging her out of the surreal mixture of the grey halls of Abnegation and the blue-lit tunnels of Dauntless. More importantly, the thunk of Lynn kicking the end of the bed physically shook Tris awake.

"Turn off the damn alarm, Stiff," Lynn growled, "before I rip that watch off your wrist."

Tris started and pushed haphazardly at the buttons on the unfamiliar band until finally, blissfully, the beeping stopped. "Sorry, sorry," Tris blurted out. There was a chorus of groans as the other Initiates voiced their displeasure before settling back into sleep. Tris didn't get that same bliss. She let her arm flop back over her eyes and counted to five. That was the only pause she could afford to give herself. She didn't want to be late.

Sliding off of the bed, Tris blinked her way through getting dressed and attempting to brush her teeth with her new toothbrush and toothpaste. She was the only Initiate who had the misfortune of waking up two hours before training. Eric's orders.

Her hands and arms and legs all ached from yesterday, and here she was about to do it all over again. "Six AM sharp, Traitor," Eric had grunted before vanishing through the gymnasium door. "Don't waste your time or more importantly mine."

Because Tris was on remedial training duty now. As her watch flashed FIVE FIFTY-FIVE at her, Tris picked up her pace and started to jog towards the training gym. This had been her choice, after all. As tired as she felt now Tris could only imagine how much worse she would feel if a) she did end up late or b) couldn't keep up with the other Initiates and failed. No, she was determined to catch back up with the others and keep her place.

Even if that meant a whole morning alone with Eric. Yesterday he had put her through her paces, more or less following through Lauren's routine with a much more critical eye. Where Lauren had a number of initiates to watch for issues, Eric had eyes only for Tris' mistakes. And boy were there plenty to pick from.

Tris chewed on her lip when she spotted the gym's door was already slid open. One row of lights was on, not all, but it was enough to illuminate the center strip of flooring and her own personal trainer.

"Good morning," Tris greeted. Politeness had been all but ground into every Abnegation kid's reflexes.

"Is it?" Eric grunted back. He was sipping what smelled to be coffee from a chipped mug that Tris couldn't read beyond "Don't touch me before-." There was something scratched over the text with marker that didn't help. Clearly he wasn't a morning person. Tris jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at the door.

"Do we close that?" she asked quietly. It seemed better to ignore Eric's retort, somehow.

He shook his head and placed the mug down on the folding table that was still set up from yesterday. Today it had a fresh bin of handwraps and Tris tried to school the sense of disappointment that came from seeing it. She wasn't looking forward to more critique on her lack-luster right hook. "Did Lauren start you guys off with warm ups yesterday?" he asked.

Tris started to shake her head and then stopped. Her cheeks warmed as she tried to remember. The details were all blurring together. There hadn't been anything specifically called a warm up, but they had started with some high knee things and did it count if they had stretched their arms and legs a bit before Lauren showed them the first set? Eric lifted a hand when Tris started to hedge. "Uhhh," she said.

"I'll take that as a maybe. First things first, you don't want to break yourself. Remember from gym class? Or did you skip most of those? Abnies aren't usually the physically active sorts," Eric remarked.

It didn't help the burning flush on Tris' face. She cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest. It was preferable to picking at her nail beds with her fingernails even if it felt like she was trying to hide. "Hey," she sputtered. Eric shook a head and cut her off.

"Just try to keep up, then," he said roughly.

She just barely made it into the cafeteria every night before the kitchen staff had turned off the warmers for the food. Eric would re-drill and re-work the same routines that Lauren had shown the group for the better part of two hours. Then he'd run her his own routines, techniques, and methods before finally he would let Tris off with a "passable" judgement.

That was the start of the new routine. Getting up each morning at the crack of dawn, building endurance, rejoining the others at breakfast, spending all day in training with Lauren, and finishing up whatever remained of the evening before dinner wrapped doing a second round of training.

Tris expected to feel exhausted or overwhelmed. But there was something… enticing to the fact that she was seeing progress. The first few days were in fact exhausting until she settled. And then at the end of the fourth day of training, Tris was paired up for the usual afternoon partner work. She lunged at Callum and successfully made it past his block - they were allowed, actually expected to be blocking one another now. Callum had stumbled back, just as surprised as Tris was. It was something small, but it was the first real signal that showed she was catching up with everyone.

From there, Tris didn't want to hold back. That didn't mean it was easy to get up early or that every day was a success story. But she could feel herself getting stronger and that was enough.

The one thing that she didn't quite understand was her trainer. Lauren, she kept her word. She gave everyone the same attention each day and turned down anyone who tried to get her to help outside of that. Eric, though. After spending hours upon hours with him, Tris still didn't have a read on him.

"You need a break before starting back up, Tris?" Eric had been waiting on the side of the training room for Lauren to wrap for the day. Tris waved as Uriah and Marlene passed by.

"I'm okay," Tris said. She was sweaty from the last round of hand to hand, but that was pretty much par for the course.

Her assertion came readily. She felt herself smile when Eric approached, especially when the corners of his lip twisted as well. "What's got you in a good mood?" he asked with a cock of his eyebrow.

They both moved to the fighting mats that lined the back wall of the gymnasium. This week they had started sparring actively with one another, no longer bound to just practicing drills with each other. Tris' smile faltered slightly as they approached. "It's just… I think that's the first time that you didn't start off calling me a traitor," she replied honestly.

He frowned before quickly wiping the expression away. "Huh," he said with forced lightness. "I suppose you're right."

Tris leaned on the balls of her feet to peer just that bit better at his face. "I'm growing on you, aren't I?" she teased.

Eric swatted at her with the back of his hand. She ducked back with a laugh and moved to get onto the sparring mat instead. "I'll take that as a maybe," Tris called out.

"I shouldn't have asked if you needed a break," Eric growled as he joined her on the mat. "Clearly you've got too much energy already if you're this chipper."

They circled one another before settling into defensive stances. Eric kept his loose, ready to react. Tris pulled her arms tight and close to her body to be able to defend herself quickly. He waited for her to strike first. "I just feel… good," Tris admitted. She bounded forward with a trio of blows aimed at his center mass.

He chose to backpedal away, waiting for her to overreach and follow up with a swat to the back of her arm. Eric moved in then, grabbing her wrist to twist her into a hold. "Lauren taking it easy on your guys?" Eric grunted.

Tris shook her head. She waited a beat for Eric to reach for her other wrist, and then she dug her elbows sharply into his gut. He let go with a wheeze, stepping aside before she could sweep a leg under his.

A few weeks ago, Tris would have found this casual conversation while fighting hand-to-hand ridiculous. She would have had to block out every word that came out of his mouth in order to focus on where he was going to be next. But it was getting easier every day the more that they drilled together. "I'm actually doing it, Eric," Tris said firmly. "Like I knew that I was kind of treading water before. Just holding on, keeping from falling behind. But now?"

She rolled back to her feet and circled Eric as he switched from defense to offense. His next strike would be direct and fast . "Now I think… I actually have a chance to beat some of them," Tris continued.

Eric scoffed. For a moment Tris' heart fell and that was when he leapt forward to throw his elbow at the side of her head. She ducked and the blow just cuffed the top instead. "I hope you've got more than a chance after three weeks of this," he remarked sharply. "Otherwise I'm not doing my job right. I won't have any trainee of mine getting their ass kicked on the mats."

Tris popped back to standing and swung out to return the favor. Her hand slapped the side of his head in an ineffective but distracting blow. He lunged in that direction, and Tris smacked the other side of his head with her other hand. "I just thought you would be… you know. A little proud. At least happy, if you're capable of it yet," Tris replied.

She wasn't just getting good at fighting and sparring with her fists. Her tongue was catching up to the Dauntless turns of phrases and the rapid-fire way they could switch between casual conversation and sharp retorts with the same ease they had on the mat. Eric swore when she landed another punch to his gut.

Letting out a grunt, he charged at her. His arms went around her torso, pinning her elbows and giving him the leverage he needed to lift her up and drop them both onto the mat. Tris gasped as the air was driven from her lungs in one gust. She tried to sit up, her chest heaving as she coughed. Eric sat back on his haunches, still partially over her on the mat.

"Don't get cocky, transfer," he grunted. Tris wheezed for another handful of breaths until she finally managed to get back in control. She looked up at him through watery eyes.

"Noted," Tris replied. She needed another minute to be able to speak properly. All the while Eric remained crouched over her, those same watchful eyes roving across her face. She tipped her head.

"What?" she asked simply.

He looked away. "I am," he said.

Tris swiped at her eyes to clear the rest of the tears from her vision. "You're what?"

Eric cleared his throat and pushed himself to his feet. "I am proud of you. Trust me, I'm as surprised as you are," he insisted. His hand tapped on the side of his leg all the while Tris found herself still stuck on the mat.

"Oh," Tris replied quietly. Her jabs and witty remarks hadn't prepared her for this. She had been enjoying getting to know Eric but he had been pretty damn good at keeping them at an arm's distance. This was not only not what she had intended to be talking about genuinely but it also was just completely astounding coming from Eric . He was a leader. He was, from what Tris had gleaned over the past few weeks, just doing this because… well… because he was one of the ones that had voted that she should stay. Tris had just assumed that was it.

She looked up at Eric. "Thank you," she replied earnestly. Eric nodded tightly before extending a hand to her. She took it, letting him pull her to her feet.

He didn't let go right away. Eric ran his thumb over the back of her hand, a soft motion that just as quickly as it had happened stopped. "I was curious about you, first. That night where you just showed up because you decided that you weren't going to get stuck in Abnegation. Like I said then, you were interesting. And then when Lauren and I talked at lunch, she told me that you were trying so hard even though you were going to be behind. She's stubborn, you see," he explained.

Tris lifted an eyebrow. "No wonder you two get along," she remarked.

Eric smirked at that. "No wonder," he agreed. "But she had a point and - I don't know if you've realized this either - but she can also be a bit of a bully. Lauren had this idea that since I was the one who broke the tie and decided you could stay, then it was my responsibility to ensure that you had an actual, fair chance."

"Hence the remedial Dauntless lessons," Tris said. She knew all of this so far or had at least suspected. It had been obvious at least that Lauren had planned at least for Eric to be there when she nudged Tris into asking for extra help.

"Yep. But what I really didn't expect, and what I don't think that even Lauren counted on unless she is truly psychic and to be feared was for you to catch on so quick. And be so… well," Eric said with a shake of his head. "You."

Tris felt her forehead furrow. Eric still hadn't let go of her hand. The heat from fighting had been sapped by the gym's cool air and she edged closer to Eric. "What about me, Eric?" Tris asked quietly.

His thumb again brushed against her hand. Tris found that she didn't want to take her eyes away from his. Then the spell that had tied them together might break and they would just go back to training like they did every night. He slowly lifted her hand, each inch taking what was surely an eon.

"I'm not sure," Eric murmured. His breath fanned over the back of her hand. "I just know I don't think I would stand it if you weren't going to make it through. I don't want you to just survive and limp through, either, Tris. I want you to live, to thrive here in Dauntless.

"I want you to get everything that you want from life and never have to worry about holding yourself back."

He finished bringing her hand up and oh so briefly pressed his lips to her knuckles. Tris inhaled sharply, overwhelmed by the gesture and his words and everything that he had just revealed to her.

--The End--

A/N: This story was written for a specific event on AO3 and I have considered working on a follow up to tackle the questions of "omg but what next???" I just haven't figured out what that would or wouldn't be, and my biggest priorities are on my existing projects like Prove It. So, yes, I want to add more. I just don't know if or when that would actually happen.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed this arc for Tris! I know I enjoyed writing it.