Thanks to those who favorited/followed. I'm not used to writing Eric yet so I apologise if he seems a bit off. . . Also! A longer chapter! Originally it was longer but it wouldn't all fit so two chapters for the price of one! ;) I can't guarantee when I'll update next.
Enjoy :)
Issy accepts the now clean knife and slices at her hand. With no hesitation she raises it over the bowl and let's her blood drip. "DAUNTLESS." The Dauntless go wild. Cody is laughing along with Alec who moves down a seat, letting Issy sit in the middle of them both. Issy looks up to her family to see them smiling. Jeanine catches her eye as she looks away and looks furious to which Issy raises an eyebrow mockingly and smirks before tuning out the rest of the Ceremony.
It comes down to eleven transfers and eight Dauntless born when the final name was called. Issy was shook out of her daydreams when all of Dauntless begin to rush to the door. Alec looks to Cody and Issy and mouths Freedom with a wide grin. The trio run after the other initiates. They're all led through streets, running and laughing and whooping as they go. Members from other factions hastily move out of the way. They come to stop at some metal pillars which supports the train tacks that go through the city. The Dauntless start to climb. Issy looks to Alec and then to Cody and shares a grin, following after their new faction members. When they get up to the platform a horn sounds as the train rushes around the corner. Again, they start to run, Dauntless and Dauntless borns jump into the carts. Issy lets out another laugh and jumps onto the train, rolling until she hits the wall. Alec follows her, ramming her back into the wall. Cody gets in and pulls an amity transfer in and they both collapse to the side of the twins. Something black and white falls into Alec's side, the girl gets up and leans against the wall next to Issy. The five of them share a look and erupt into chuckles. The boy sits up.
"I'm Noah."
"Bree." The Candor girl – Bree – pants.
"This is Cody, my sister Issy and I'm Alec."
"Uhh, my legs hurt." Bree whines and Noah laughs.
"My side hurts." Noah gives Cody a mock glare.
"Your side hurts? You fell on me!" Cody pushes at Noah's broad shoulders. "If anyone's sides should be hurting it's mine." He huffs. Issy looks around the cart to surprisingly find that all of the transfers made it into the train.
At the head of the car, a Dauntless member stands up. "It's time to jump!" Alec's eyes widen.
"Did she say jump?"
"No, she said fly." Issy said sarcastically.
"Funny." Issy sticks her tongue out towards him as they all get up and head to the doors. A flat roof that's level with the train tracks nears. People at the front of the cart jump out, some landing gracefully and others have to roll.
"Because that's not Dauntless at all."
"We've got this!" Cody shouts, jogging to the back. He smirks. Let's go!" One by one, all of them jump out of the train. Noah collides into Issy's side, Bree rolls into Alec's ribs and Cody grates his face into the gravel.
"We've just got to stop meeting like this." Noah remarked as he pulled Issy to her feet.
"I can't believe you Cody!" Issy says walking to the mass of black, following the other transfers to the front. "Going off and getting battle scars already, the horror." Bree giggles.
"That's enough of your sass, miss." Alec points at Issy while Cody shrugs his shoulders with a 'what can you do' facial expression.
"Alright, listen up." A sharp voice cuts through they conversation. A man stands on the edge of the roof. "I'm Eric, one of your leaders. If you want to enter Dauntless then this is the way in."
An Erudite, Charlie 'cough, arsehole, cough', looks confused. "What's at the bottom?"
Eric raises one pierced eyebrow. "I'll guess you'll find out. Or not, if you're too scared then you don't belong here." All of the transfers paused, looking at each other, not daring to move. "Come on. Someone's gotta go or I'll start pushing people off." Eric says impatiently.
"I'll go." Alec steps forward. Eric studies Alec for a second before stepping down.
"Alright then." Everyone watches as Alec steps up. At the last second he turns around to wink at Issy and then does a back-flip, laughing and whooping all the way down.
"Cocky Bastard." Issy mumbles to Cody. From behind her, someone nudges her forward. Eric looks to Issy and raises his eyebrow impossibly higher, his piercings disappearing into his hairline.
"Go on then initiate, unless you're scared?"
Issy walks forward and slowly turns as she passes Eric, walking to the edge backwards. "Hardly." Issy grins as wide as the Cheshire Cat and lets herself fall.
Wind pulls her hair back as she falls. The rush she felt when she jumped onto the train was nothing compared to this feeling of wildness and freedom, like nothing can stop her. But something does. A net. Issy laughs as she bounces because of the impact. The net angles to one side and two hands pull her out, holding her as she wobbles.
"Name?" Issy looks up into a pair of green eyes.
"Issy. And yours?"
The man smiles and shakes his head. "Blake. Go stand over there." Blake motions to where Alec is stood nearly bouncing with a grin on his face. "SECOND JUMPER: ISSY!" Blake announces to the crowd of Dauntless who cheer and clap. Issy goes to stand next to her brother as a blur of black and red falls through the hole. "THIRD JUMPER: HECTOR!" The Dauntless born, Hector, jogs up to the twins and points at both of them.
"That. Was. Epic! I can't believe you did a back flip! I wish I thought of that!" He motions to Alec and then he turns to Issy and laughs. "Girl, you are hardcore."
Alec turns to his sister. "What did you do?"
"Nothing, I just-"
"Please," A new voice interrupted. A girl with coffee coloured skin and brown eyes comes to stand next to Hector. "That was not nothing. You fell off backwards and sassed Eric of all people! You, my friend, have a death wish." She smirks. "Lilah, by the way."
"Issy."
"Alec."
"God, you're both insane!" Noah comes up from behind Lilah.
"Your point?" Alec looks mildly offended.
"You both amaze me."
Issy flips her hair back dramatically. "Why thank you." Making Hector and Lilah laugh.
They fall into easy chatter as the wait for the others to jump. When Eric is the last to jump, he walks over to the initiates.
"Dauntless borns with Lauren and Lynn. Transfers with me. Normally your Instructor would give you the tour but since he's busy, I'll do and you'll meet him later. " Eric seems annoyed that he has to lead a bunch of transfers. He leads them through dark rocky tunnels that are barely lit. They stop at a large room with six bunk beds. "This is where you'll be sleeping for the next few weeks."
"Boys or girls?" Someone from the back asks. Eric smirks as he answers.
"Both." Some make noise of disgust as they look around the room "If you like this then you'll love the bathroom." He motions to a smaller, open room with shower stalls and toilets. "There are clothes in your lookers at the sides of your bunks." He surveys every face before lingering on Issy. "Get changed in two minutes and meet me outside with your clothes." With one last look, he stalks out of the room.
Issy looks around and chooses a bunk against the wall. "Bagsy top bunk."
"Bagsy the next top bunk." Bree calls, putting her stuff on the next bunk bed. Alec takes the bunk below Issy and Cody takes the one underneath Bree. Noah takes the next bunk at the bottom. Quickly, Issy gets changed into black leggings, a black tank and a black hoodie. Folding up her old clothes, she looks around to see if anyone else is done. Cody and Noah are just finishing up and Bree and Alec have just finished.
Once the boys were finished they went outside to find Eric leaning on a wall with a tablet in his hands. He glances up from the screen and then glances at his watch, tilting it slightly. "One minute thirty five seconds. Good." It took a little longer than two minutes for everyone else. Eric walks off and gestures us to follow. The initiates follow him around Dauntless after chucking their old factions clothing into incinerators. Symbolic, Issy had thought, but it's not that easy to burn our old faction away. Eric showed them the Pit, the center of life at Dauntless, which had many types of shops and clubs. Alec grinned and nudged his sister when he saw a tattoo parlor and she smirked back.
So that's the first part of the chapter. Just a few things to clear up:
-Hector is Shauna and Lynn's little brother,
-Lilah is Max's daughter,
-Eric, Declan and Four are 24,
-Hugo and Blake are 20.