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They spent the rest of their night with friends and in Issy's and Alec's case, family, as Dec and Hugo joined them for dinner and stayed with them. They laughed and joked, pushing and shoving each other until they head to bed.
Issy is pleased as she looks back on the day while walking through the halls of Dauntless. Not only that she won her match against Four but she also wound Eric up, going by the bulge in his pants. She grinned, remembering how he had walked out with a final glance over her and Bree started giggling from her bunk. Issy had rolled her eyes, saying that it didn't mean anything even if she didn't believe in her own words. After dinner, Issy and her friends had headed to the tattoo parlor. This time Issy didn't get another tattoo but she did design another tattoo for her brother Alec. The drawing was of a dark grey wolf and a light grey dragon chasing the other so they formed a circle, in the circle was a lions head and on the outside of the circle are two types of bird: a hawk on the left and an eagle on the right. Where there are gaps between the animals there's animalistic stripes to fill in the blanks that slowly fade out. These animals weren't just randomly picked, they held meaning to their family. Weirdly enough it's because each of the siblings are borderline obsessed with a particular animal. For Dec, it's a lion. For Hugo, it's a hawk. For herself, it's a wolf. For Alec, it's a dragon. And for Cara, it's an eagle. Family means everything to them and they're not afraid to show it. Alec had it placed on the back of his right hand. When they all had gone back to the dorms and into bed it didn't take Issy long to fall asleep and then wake up again. Instead of doing her usual of grabbing her sketch pad and heading straight to her alcove, she found herself wanting to walk around even if she nearly always subconsciously goes to the Chasm anyway. She had zoned out into her own thoughts when a deep voice stopped her.
"Hasn't Four told you that you couldn't be wandering the halls at night?" She turns to find Eric leant on a wall not too far from her left.
"Actually he said that I shouldn't which gives me the possibility of whether I can or I can't." Issy cocks her head to the side as he steps closer.
"What is it about Four that makes you hate him?"
"Oh I don't hate him, he's just so easy to wind up, thus making him an easy target." Issy smiles innocently as Eric shakes his head. He opens his mouth to reply when the sounds of muffled screaming comes from the direction of the Chasm.
Without a second thought, Issy sprints towards the sound with Eric thundering after her. As the corridor opens up to the Chasm she freezes to a halt. Korey is gripping a struggling Bree, trying to get her to the edge. All logical thoughts leave her as she looks on in horror. Eric finally catches up, pushing past her and rips Korey off of Bree. Snapping out of it, Issy rushes to Bree and wraps her in her arms with Bree's head in her shoulder, breathing heavily and shaking. Issy watches Eric pounds Korey into the ground. Multiple footsteps thunder from the opposition direction they had come from and Four, Zeke and Tris run into the scene. Immediately Tris comes over and gently takes Bree into her arms from Issy's murmuring something. Numbly, Issy slumps against the wall watching Four as he speeds to Eric and pulls him off. Zeke lifts a battered Korey by the collar and drags him away down the hallway he came from. Breathing heavily, Eric shrugs out of Four's hold and faces the girls. Issy swears she sees his eyes soften when he looks at her but it must just be a trick of the light. The only sounds is the water crushing onto rock and Tris soothing Bree. With the help of Tris and Four, Bree is pulled to her feet and she latches onto Tris. A second later and Eric is by Issy's side with both of his hands out towards her. She slides her hands into his and Eric pulls her up. Her legs shake as she stumbles forward. Eric's grip tightens as he pulls her towards him and she head-butts his chest. When she pulls back he searches her eyes before nodding once and removing his hands but doesn't step away from her. Issy looks away from Eric to see Four watching them with narrowed eyes and a thoughtful look on his face. She turns her attention to Bree.
"Are you alright? Do you want to stay in the dorms?" Tris questions.
Bree grabs onto Issy's hand and pulls her closer as she nods. "Will he be going back?" She asks with a shaky voice.
"No." Eric answers. "He'll be kept in isolation until the other Leaders decide what to do with him."
"How did he even get to you? You sleep on the top bunk." Issy holds her hand tighter.
"I got down to go to the toilet and he got me on the way back."
"How kind of him to allow you to do your business before grabbing you." Issy snarks.
Four goes to check on Zeke before going to the other Leaders while Tris lets go of Bree to wrap an arm around her shoulder and guides her to the dorms slowly. Issy and Eric follow after them, walking closely so their arms brush every time they move. The walk is quiet, it would be almost peaceful if Issy could get her hands to stop shaking. She fists her hands into her pockets and wills them to stop. When they reach the dorms, Tris and Bree enter quietly. Issy goes to follow after them but is stopped when Eric moves his body between her and the door. He leans in and brushes a strand of hair out of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear. His fingers then move to her chin, gently lifting it up. For a single moment her hands stop shaking and she feels safe.
"Whether it was just him or he was working with someone else I need you to be careful, okay Issy?"
She nods into his hand silently. "Okay Eric." Somewhat pleased with her answer he takes a step back and opens the door for her to enter first. As Issy goes in and heads to Bree, Eric stays in the doorway, holding it open and watching them. Bree already sits in her bunk as Tris whispers up to her. Grabbing her own blanket, Issy throws it up to Bree's bunk and Bree's starts to quietly question her. Issy cuts her off by telling her to move over and jumps into the bunk, curling protectively around her. It reminds her of when she used to curl around Cara whenever either of them had a bad dream.
"Tomorrow at breakfast I need you to look scared and vulnerable." Bree opens her mouth but closes it when Tris holds up her hand and she carries on. "I know that you want to appear brave, believe me, I know. But if he was working with someone else its better for you to appear weak as then you're less of a target okay?"
"Okay."
Tris glances at the door to where Eric is still watching them and then to Issy. Tris lowers her voice, speaking directly at Issy. "I have a feely that Eric has already told you this but you also need to be careful."
"I don't get it. Why do I need to be careful?"
"Because Issy, you are the highestranking female initiate. Sometimes men find that threatening."
"I'll try." Tris reaches over to squeeze both of their hands and swiftly leaves the room with Eric. Issy curls closer when Bree sniffles and decides to do something else that she hasn't done in years. Issy quietly sings under her breath, lulling Bree to sleep.
Throughout the night, Issy couldn't sleep. Not that she was surprised but this time Bree kept waking up, crying out quietly. Issy rubbed circles onto her hand and sang. As she did this, Issy couldn't help but think as to why Korey targeted Bree. Bree has been rising through the ranks since they've been doing obstacle courses, she has been doing really well and Issy is definitely proud of her but Korey, she thinks, has been dropping slowly. Issy thought back on what Tris said. Was it possible that Korey felt threatened by Bree? She still can't believe she was so close to losing her best friend, her sister in all but blood. What would she do if she lost Bree? The door opens, disrupting her thoughts, and she sits up slightly to see Four with a sombre expression on his face. He switches the lights on, waking them up in the usual manner.
"Be in the Pit. Half an hour." With that, he leaves as some whisper frantically, wondering why they've been given longer. Issy uncurls herself from Bree and jumped down from one side as Bree jumped from the other. Issy watched Bree as she got out some clothes for the day, flinching when Noah hugged her from behind. Immediately Noah reacted, drawing the attention of Cody and Alec. Bree whispered to Noah, pulling him close and sniffing into his shoulder. By the furious looks in Cody's and her brother's eyes as the search the dorms Issy guesses Bree told them. Noah pulls Bree in tighter, his eyes searching the room until they find hers. He nods once and she nods back. No matter what she'd do if Bree had gone over but what would Noah do? She shakes her head trying to clear out the depressing thoughts by getting changed into her usual of leggings, a thin hoodie and a pair of trainers.
There seems to be a silent agreement as they walk to the dinning hall with Bree in the middle of them, closing ranks around her. They sit in front of Tris who gives a reassuring smile to Bree. Breakfast turned out to be a quiet affair, they only spoke when it was needed which wasn't very much. Before their thirty minutes was up it seemed like the whole of Dauntless was being control as group by group of them began to get up and head for the Pit. Hugo came to them and motioned them to follow with Tris.
"Hu what's going on?" Alec asked as they got to the Pit near one of the balconies that over looks the room. Only the Leaders and some higher members are allowed up there.
"There's going to be some announcement." He throws over his shoulder while he leads them to a small ledge where the rest of the initiates, Four and Declan stand. "No one knows what its about just that we all have to be there." Issy looks around, it feels like all of Dauntless has been summoned. On the balcony stands Eric with Max a few steps behind him along with five other Leaders. Eric waits for the room to stop filling up before he raises his hand and all of Dauntless fall silent.
"In Dauntless women are just as strong as men." Eric's voice echoes off of the wall as his hard glare pierces through everyone in the room. "In this faction we are equal with each other. Any forms of harassment by and to either gender will not be tolerated and consequences will be made. We, as a faction, are only as strong as the weakest link. We are strong when we work together. Cowardice is not accepted." There is some nodding and yelling from the sea of black as they agree with him. "Last night an initiate took it upon himself to try to get rid of someone he thought as a threat. He couldn't accept that she was more Dauntless than he would ever be." Some members shout out in rage, banging against the metal. From the corner of her eye Issy saw Bree stand up straighter. "In the dead of night, he manhandled her from the dorms and tried pushing her off of the Chasm." Eric allows the members to shout out for awhile before he silences them once again. "Thankfully, myself and a few other stopped him. After talking with the other Leaders, we have decided that his punishment is death and was taken into effect immediately. We do not accept cowardice of any form, it has no place amongst the brave. We are Dauntless."