Tris' POV
Shutting her office door Tris locks it and makes her way to the control room. Her watch tells her its a little over ten o'clock as she walks through the silent halls. A chill has begun to set in as summer comes closer to an end and Tris pulls her jacket around her tighter as she shivers lightly.
Opening the door of the control room, she is assaulted by a blast of warm air. Sighing contently, Tris walks over to where Four is joking along with Zeke and Blake as they lounge back in their chairs with their eyes on the screens in front of them.
"How's the shift been?" Tris places her hands on the top of Four's chair while she looks at the screens.
"Boring." Zeke whines as Blake snorts.
"Yeah. So boring that Zeke here decided to make a catapult out of pens and launch rolled up bits of paper at people."
Four shoots Tris an amused smile. "That's as productive as it's got really."
Tris smiles, shaking her head. Once she had debated about taking a job in the control room but the idea of sitting in front of a screen for several hours at a time didn't appeal to her. She is happy with her job now, at first it was hard from the amount of paperwork but once she got into the roll of things she really enjoyed it. Once her training was finished she chose to be ambassador to Abnegation not only because it was her home faction but because no one else wanted to do it. Yes, the only thing Tris hated doing was having a meeting with Marcus every month due to personal reasons but for the smaller jobs she had, it was always directed to her father. He kept her up to date on how him and her mother was and Tris in turn told them how herself and Four was. Her father was still a bit wary of Four but he seemed to take it into stride when her parents came to Dauntless for Visiting Day a year after her own transfer.
Something caught her eye on one of the monitors that cut Tris out of her thoughts. Zeke and Blake were teasing Four about something so their whole attention was not on the screens before them. As she gets closer to the monitor, she sees something very familiar.
"Four! Look!"
Tris' worried shout breaks the trio from their teasing and Four rolls over to the monitor with Zeke looking over his shoulder. "Shit!" Four quickly gets to his feet, as does Zeke. "Blake you okay here?"
"Yeah." Blake shouts back, eyes fixed to the screen. "Go! Quickly!"
Without another word Four, Zeke and Tris run towards the Chasm. Tris cannot help but think about her own initiation, how she nearly got chucked over too, if it wasn't for Four. Their feet pound against the floor and her heart pounds with it. 'What if they're too late? What if they don't make it in time?' Tris shakes her head. She can't think like that, she refuses to.
Tris has never been more relived of Eric's presence then that moment when she saw him slamming his fists into the attacker, which happened to be Korey. Her eyes search the area until she sees Bree shaking, tucked into Issy's side. Immediately Tris sprints over and gently takes Bree from Issy and into her own arms, murmuring. "Shh, Bree." Tris leans her head on top of Bree's watching Issy as she stares off. "It'll be okay, he won't hurt you now. Shh." Bree quivers and sobs into Tris' shoulder. Tris is somewhat aware of Zeke dragging one battered Korey away while Eric shrugs out of Four's hold. Bree calms down a little bit by the time both men come over. Four helps Tris help Bree up and Tris can't help but watch as Eric gently helps Issy up, holding her until she's steady. She doesn't remember Eric being that way with anyone. Tris shares a knowing glance with Four before focusing her gaze on the shaking girl in her arms.
"Are you alright? Do you want to stay in the dorms?" Tris softly asks as Bree reaches out and grabs Issy's hand, pulling her closer and away from Eric, and nodding.
"Will he be going back?"
Tris opened her mouth to answer but realised she didn't have an answer to that question, Eric did though. "No." If Tris was really paying attention, she'd notice how Eric shifted a little bit closer to Issy. "He'll be kept in isolation until the other Leaders decide what to do with him."
"How did he even get to you?" Issy asked as her hand tightened around Bree's. "You sleep on the top bunk?"
Bree smiles sheepishly. "I got down to go to the toilet and he grabbed me on the way back."
Issy snorts sarcastically. "How kind of him to allow you to do your business before grabbing you."
'Indeed.' Tris mentally agrees.
Four leaves them to check on Zeke before telling Eric he'll wake up the other Leaders and have them go to the conference room. Tris wraps an arm around Bree's shoulder, keeping her in her side as she guides Bree back to the dorms with Eric and Issy following behind. The walk there is quiet, Tris can't find any words to make conversation as they walk and she doesn't think anyone else can either. She opens the door quietly and nudges Bree to go in first. When they get to Bree's bunk, Tris quietly helps her up and Bree shifts until she is comfortable, facing Tris.
"It'll be okay Bree." Tris mutters up to her. "You'll never forget what happened but it'll get better. Life would be boring if it was easy." They smile softly. "This is Dauntless Bree, stuff like this always happens in initiation but those that live through it always become stronger than before." The door opens again and Issy heads straight over to her bunk while Eric leans in the door frame watching her. "You'll be fine." Issy comes to Bree and slings her own blanket over Bree, ignoring her confused questions as she walks around the bunk, tells Bree to move over and Issy jumps onto the bunk behind her, curling around Bree. "Tomorrow at breakfast I need you to look scared and vulnerable." Tris lifts a hand to cut Bree of from arguing. "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 looks at Issy for a moment before she takes a quick to Eric who's still watching them, or watching Issy. Tris lowers her voice, speaking directly to Issy. "I have a feeling Eric has already told you this but you also need to be careful."
"I don't get it." Issy's eyebrows scrunch up. "Why do I need to be careful?"
"Because Issy, you are the highest ranking female initiate. Sometimes men find that threatening." A face appears in Tris' head but she pushes it away.
Issy nods, still looking somewhat confused. "I'll try." Tris reaches over to squeeze both of their hands before swiftly leaving the room with Eric.
Their walk back to the control room is even quieter now. Tris honestly doesn't know what to say, she's never really been left with Eric for very long but thankfully she doesn't have to.
"I've heard of some initiations being brutal, some initiates even killing each other but nothing like this." Eric shakes his head.
"Really?" Tris thinks back to her own. Yes – now she thinks about it – Eric would have known about Edward. "Nothing at all?"
"No," He shakes his head again. "Although Four did raise a hypothetical suggestion one time in your initiation about an attack by several initiates to one but left it as a hypothetical suggestion." Tris tenses, freezing mid step. Eric walks a few more until he realises she's not by his side and turns back. She can nearly see the light bulb lighting up. Tris cuts him off before he can open his mouth.
"Like Bree, I got dragged from my bed at night by three boys who couldn't get over my ranking in Stage 2."
Eric looks at Tris mildly surprised at the new information. "Who was it?"
"It doesn't matter, I'm over it." They begin walking once more when a though pops up in Tris' head and for once she is glad Issy wanders around at night, she wonders if Eric is too. A small voice says that's a stupid question buts she asks anyway. "I bet you're glad that Issy wanders around at night." When Eric shoots her a confused look, she expands her question. "There was a high possibility that that could have been Issy."
Like Tris did only moments ago, Eric freezes, swallowing once, twice before gazing at Tris with what she thinks is real fear in his eyes. For once Eric actually seems scared, not for himself but for Issy. "I hadn't thought about that. Why would they go for Issy?"
"Why would they have gone for me?" Tris counters back softly and she finds herself repeating what she said to Issy. "Eric, Issy is the highest ranking female initiate. Sometimes men find that threatening." Eric swallows again as he nods his head, his eyes unfocused.
They say nothing else even when they part at the control room, nodding their acknowledgement to each other. It goes without saying, Tris will keep Eric's open display of emotion to herself. She's still somewhat surprised that all it took was a golden-eyed initiate from Erudite but, she thinks as she walks to Four, people are often attracted to what they know.
Hopefully I didn't butcher Tris' character that much when writing this, I just couldn't seem to get into her POV but hey, it seems alright to me.