Hey, sorry guys, this chapter took a little longer than I thought it would... Personal life got in the way and my bf has recently broken up with me so I'm a bit of a mess at the moment... Although writing has became a great distraction to that so I'll probably be posting more as time goes on... Enjoy!

Josh stands with Dec but its who stands in between the two men she recognises as brothers that makes her inhale sharply and her jaw drop.

One guess who.

Eric.

He doesn't seemed to have changed much in the five months that he's been at Amity. He stands smirking at something Josh said in his normal uniform with a jacket like her own. Well, technically its still his but she ain't giving it back any time soon. Its then that things click and everything makes sense. It explained why Kim was acting weird and why she had such a strange glint in her eyes. It also explained why Four's expression changed for a second when she had mentioned Eric wouldn't be here tonight to piss him off. 'That bastard.' Her golden eyes flicker to where Four stands with the smuggest face she's ever seen on him. 'He knew and didn't tell her.' She glared at him with a ferocious look in her eyes, wishing to wipe that smug look from his face. Four grinned at her, for once totally unaffected by her glare, and motioned his head back to her brothers and Eric. She looked back to find Eric grinning at her and her gaze softens slightly as a light blush darkens her cheeks and she looks away.

Issy glances to Flare who is trying not to smirk but failing. "You knew he'd be here too."

"I didn't actually." Flare says. "I only found out when I got to the tracks myself."

"Okay." Issy whispers.

Thankfully the train horn stops her thoughts and she sighs deeply. Four, Lauren and Lynn leads the way as the train gets closer. The initiates follow after and just like last time, the members run after them, making sure everyone gets onto the train. Hairs on the back of her neck stand up and the butterflies in the stomach start to fly. She doesn't have to glance back to know who's running close behind her. Issy grabs the handle next to the door and she inhales slightly as a hand appears on her hip, gently helping her in. Once in the cart, Issy looks back to see Eric pull himself in and stands in front of her. He smiles at her before giving her a little shove to where the others were gathered.

Four nods his head at Eric as the young Leader joins him and the other instructors at the front of the pack. Issy stands towards the back with the other members as the Dauntless born recognise exactly who stands before them and start whispering amongst themselves as the transfers appear confused.

Eric looks over the initiates with an unimpressed look. "Alright! Shut up!" He shouts and its followed by immediate silence, making Issy smirk. "For those that don't know me, I'm Eric, one of the seven Leaders here at Dauntless." He pauses, looking at each of them. "Tonight we will be playing Capture The Flag. Now us Dauntless take this very seriously and I expect you to do the same. Its not just game, its something that will live with you forever, just like the titles of First Jumper or First Ranker," His eyes flicker over to Issy for a second before they go back to the initiates. "Will stay with you forever. Four and Flare are Captains." Eric nods his head to Four and Flare, stepping back and allowing them to take over. For a second, surprise crosses Flare's face before her face hardens and she begins to explain the choice of weapon. It doesn't take long until they begin choosing the teams, starting with the transfers.

Once they get through the initiates, it comes to the members turn and they are split evenly between each team. Zeke, Will, Lauren and Lynn joins Four's team while Issy, Eric, Josh and Dec join Flare's. Issy moves to lean against the wall next to Flare. She's no going to lie, seeing Eric here tonight has thrown her off her game a bit. She doesn't know whether to hug him or to punch him... Or both.

The train ride to the normal area seemed to take forever. Whenever Issy looked in Eric's direction, the feeling of hugging him became stronger and every time she looked in his direction, Eric winked at her with a knowing look. Instead she grit her teeth and willed herself not to. She stuck mostly to Flare's side while the train rumbled on.

When the train neared the drop off points, Four moved forward but was stopped by Flare standing in his way and he looked down at her surprised.

"You got off first last time." Flare met his gaze with fire. "Its our turn this year." Flare motions for her team to start jumping off. Eric and Dec jump out first, followed soon by the Dauntless born, who look wide eyed at Flare. From the look on their faces Issy suspects Flare has just gained even more respected from them for going against Four. The transfers follow after them and its just as Issy and Josh are readying to jump off when Flare makes Issy's day. "Plus, as it was proven last year, jumping off first makes your team lose and you get your arse handed to you by an Initiate." Issy snorts so violently that Josh has to pull her away from the door to keep her from falling out of the train. Even Josh is snickering quietly to himself. "I'd thought I'd give you that advantage this year. You'll need it."

Issy and Josh manage to calm themselves enough to jump out and Flare follows after them. Josh and Issy hold each other up as they follow Flare to the rest of the team. Both of them are still laughing hard, which gains a few questioning looks.

"The hell is wrong with you two?" Dec asks as he shares a look with Eric.

"Oh my God!" Issy laughs. "You guys missed it! Flare verbally handed Number Boy his arse!"

"Ahh," Josh sighs happily as he rubs his face. "It was brilliant! Made my day!"

Flare shoots them a look to be quiet as the initiates gather round them and look at their instructor hopefully, glancing to Eric every now and then. Flare cocks her hip out to the side as she watches the initiates. "So what's the plan?"

"What?" A slim boy, most likely a transfer, blurts out.

"After knowing about this game for all your life, you still don't know that its the initiates that make the plan up Felix?" Flare shakes her head. Obviously not a transfer then... "To those who don't know, the instructors and the members are just here to keep you alive if shit goes dreadfully wrong. What's the plan?"

The initiates shuffle on their feet not saying anything until a tall girl from the back shoots her hand up and starts talking. "A few blocks away is the old fairground. We should hide the flag in the hall of mirrors. I know my way to the centre and I could protect it there with a few others."

"Nose." Someone hisses quietly under their breath. Issy looks in the direction of where it came from to catch two boys, one wincing as their friend elbows them sharply in the ribs.

"We should send a few scouts to find Four's flag and then have a large group charge forward as a smaller group comes up behind." The boy that elbowed his friend spoke up when Issy's golden gaze landed on his friend.

Flare nods her head. "And who do you think should lead the charge Zed?"

"Beta." His answer was quick and all eyes shifted to Issy as she grinned something feral.

Flare shook her head with a slight smile. "Alright! Split up into teams and let's go!"

It took longer than Flare would have liked but it wasn't long until they were split into three groups. Issy stood with her gun ready in her hands as Zed, the boy who recommended her to lead the charge, and his friend Louis joined her along with a male transfer called Adam that they seemed to be friends with. As Eric came to stand with them, the initiates looked at him with slight awe while Issy tried not to glance at him. Josh was joined by two female initiates to get the flag while Issy's team distracted them and then the rest joined Flare to protect their own flag. The three teams split off not long after once they knew the general location of Four's flag. Apparently it was one of Number Boy's favourite places. The Ferris wheel.

It was Josh's idea to send out scouts to get a general gist of where Four had organised his team this year. The only two transfers volunteered and vanished into the bushes with more skill than the chattering Dauntless borns. Although the transfers hadn't been at Dauntless for very long, to Issy it was somewhat easy to see who would be staying. The Dauntless borns still stood chattering quietly as Issy's finger hovered over the trigger and she surveyed her surroundings just like she would if she was on patrol. She caught Josh's eye and she smirked at her, rolling his eyes. A branched cracked almost inaudibly and her head snapped in that direction with her gun raised slightly. Josh laughed slightly as their scouts returned and she lowered her gun, turning back to the group. The Dauntless borns stood staring at her in awe, Eric had his signature smirk playing on his lips and Josh was still laughing quietly as the scouts appeared confused at what they just walked in on.

"You can take a soldier outta patrol but you can't take a patrol outta a soldier." Eric smirked before turning to the scouts. "So?" He raised an eyebrow.

"We got as close as we could but there's one of the members stood on a platform halfway up the ladder with Lauren and three other initiates protecting the bottom of it." Adam says and Louis speaks up and Issy decides then that she doesn't like him.

"Only five protecting the flag? This is gonna be easy!"

"I don't think that's where they've hid the flag though..." The other scout, a female transfer called Robyn, spoke up. "Four and another initiate are standing not too far from the others around some trees."

"Maybe they just did a perimeter run." Louis eyed her out.

Robyn's eyes narrowed at him and she lifted her chin in silent challenge. "I watched them for fifteen minutes and they didn't move from that area. They weren't doing a perimeter run, they are guarding it." She turned and stared straight at Issy, not even flinching at her golden eyes. "It has to be where the flag is."

Louis scoffs quietly but Issy and Robyn stand still staring at each other. The initiate stands firmly, not backing down and Issy smiles at her, nodding once, and Robyn smiles back.

"I say she's right." Issy says and all eyes turn to her. She shrugs. "After last year Four wasn't there to protect his flag and look what happened." She meets each gaze with her own. "He wouldn't want to make the same mistake again so why would he leave others to protect the flag?"

Josh nods his head, his expression calculating. "With him being such a smart bastard he is, he'd expect us to think that an area with the most guards is where the flag is 'cause why would you leave something so important with less protection?"

"Exactly!" Issy snaps the safety off, looking around at their team and finding them all ready for action. "Let's go hunting!" Issy grinned wolfishly.

xXx

The game finally ended when Robyn punched the air with Four's flag in her fist. Flare's team roared out, their victory lighting up their eyes and fuelling their spirit.

For Four's side, the game had worked quite well in their favour with Will as lookout. His aim was superb and it was a while until one of them managed to take him out as Josh lead Robyn and another Dauntless to where they agreed the flag was. After that, the teams were balanced. Issy and Eric managed to make enough commotion that Four sent the initiate he had with him to check it out. While neither Issy or Eric were able to take down Four, both of them shared a grin when Josh told them Robyn had taken him out with a little help from Josh. That just helped Issy respect her more and Issy made a mental note to ask Flare about her.

As Eric radioed the rest of the members and declared their victory, Four walked towards them with his head down and an angry look on his face. Issy smirked at him, moving out of his way before he could barge into her.

"Alright!" She called out. "Initiates! Follow Four to the train!"

They did as she said, following after their moody instructor as he muttered under his breath. Members and initiates passed her until she brought up the rear. Well... She and her Leader. Issy adamant that she was going to ignore him. Until he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her around to face her and Issy did one of the two things she's been stopping herself from doing.

She punched him.

Hard in the chest and he staggers back. A small part of her was proud that she caused him to stagger at least but she pushed that thought down as she glared at him, golden eyes meeting grey as surprised flashed across his face.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back for Capture?!" She nearly shouted at him, thankful that no one was in hearing distance. "Why did no one say anything to me?"

Eric looks down as he shuffles on his feet. "I wanted to surprise you."

"Dammit Eric!" She punches him again but this time he was expecting it and he hardly moved. "Why didn't you tell me about the jackets either? What the hell was that about huh?" She starts to pace back and forth in front of him as he stares at her. Obviously this want how he expected her to react. "I wouldn't have minded if you just had corrected me at the start and say: Actually Issy, that's my jacket you're wearing, you don't mind do you? I wouldn't have minded in the fucking slightest. Instead you and Dec and everyone else who knew exactly who's jacket it was and didn't tell me. I might as well of had IDIOT written on my forehead." Eric tries to reach out for Issy but she smacks his hands away. "Don't touch me." She hisses as a single tear runs down her face and she punches him a third time, slightly weaker this time though, and he definitely doesn't move. "'Just in case'? Who the fuck would even do that to a person?! 'Just in case'? Fuck you!" With that, she storms back to the tracks with her fists clenched at her sides. She can her Eric follow after her but he keeps his distance. 'Good.' She huffs.

He stays behind her all the way to the tracks before he goes and joins Josh, who is looking between them in confusion. Issy makes her way to Flare and sighs as she stops. Flare gently bumps her shoulder against Issy's, smiling slightly.

"Not good I take it?" Flare asks quietly.

"I punched him." Issy says staring past Flare as her friend turns to her in shock. "Three times. And then I started shouting at him. And then I walked off." She looked at Flare then and her friend stared at her silently. "Turns out I was more angry at him then I thought I was." Issy's lips twitched up in a small smile that dropped after a minute while Flare still stared at her.

"You. Punched. Eric?!" Flare said slowly and when Issy nodded she shook her head. "Damn girl. As soon as I think I know about all of your layers of craziness, I find there's another fucking one."

Issy simply shrugs her shoulders and looks around their group. Her eyes settle on Robyn who still had Four's flag clutched in her hands and was sat with Adam and Zed. "Hey Flare, tell me about that initiate?" Issy nodded towards her and Flare followed her gaze.

"Robyn? She transferred from Candor." Flare told her. "Surprisingly quiet for an ex-loud mouth but she's got spirit, she just doesn't show it much."

"Rank?"

"It was ninth but after tonight I think it'll go up a few more places."

Issy nods her head. "Can you keep me updated on her performance please? She sounds like she'd be a valuable asset if she makes the final cut."

Flare smirks. "Planning something Beta?"

In the distance the train horn sounds and Issy turns back to Flare with a mischievous smirk on her face. "Maybe."

They laugh together as they begin to race each other, the train pulling up on their side and the others take off after them. Flare jumps in first with Issy on her heels and they lean against the wall as the train takes them home.