*** DISCLAIMER ***
I own NOTHING regarding the divergent series e.g. the books/the movies
The only things I own are my own characters that I've created.
Three weeks in dauntless passed by quickly and Nix realised after the first few days that she and Andie had seamed to have gotten themselves into a routine, they would wake early each morning, dress, head for breakfast and they'd somehow managed to time it so that they always arrived in the training room a few minutes before they were due to start each day.
Every day their training swapped around, they would either be in weapons handling from eight till twelve then from one till six it would be combat training or vice versa.
After training every evening everyone seamed to have the same idea, they would all automatically go straight for the dining hall before heading back to their dormitory to wash up as they were always starving once they were dismissed.
The other transfer girls seamed to simultaneously rush off to buy bathing suits for themselves once they'd saw Nix and Andie doing it that second night, a couple of them even praised Nix on what good of an idea it had been, she didn't however tell them that the idea hadn't been her own.
All of the girls except for one soon had bathing suits in their possession, the one who didn't was the candor girl that had spoken up the day Four and Eric had briefed them on what would be happing for the ten weeks of initiation, her name was Tracy and she openly showered naked with what seamed to be the majority if not all of the boys in their dormitory, Nix didn't realise candor's were THAT open.
The whole bathing suit situation came about after her encounter with Eric in the tunnel after she'd left the tattoo shop, Nix had decided to seek out the tip he had given her about the store that sold suits, she was still surprised to this day that he'd even told her about them in the first place, especially since he'd chastised her just moments before about not being 'fearless' enough to mind being naked in front of the other initiates.
She'd run into Andie when she'd been heading to the clothing store and told the girl what she was planning, Andie thought the idea was brilliant and decided she wanted to get herself a bathing suit too and she did but it wasn't a suit, it was a two piece that looked like underwear...she called it a bikini, Nix wasn't keen on those but it turned out she had no choice but to get one herself as there were no one piece bathing suits in dauntless.
The whole time she was showering, despite being covered up by the suit, or rather semi covered up by the barely there material of the suit she couldn't help but feel ashamed...if her mother could see her, she'd shuddered thinking about it but kept reminding herself that she wasn't abnegation anymore, when she'd stood under the water for the first time with Andie and some of the other girls they'd all received wolf whistles from the boys that were in the dormitory with them, Nix wanted to and would have waited until they'd disappeared but none of them as Andie had pointed out were going anywhere soon so she had no choice but to get it over with.
Nix had showered as quickly as she could that night as most of the comments that the boys had started to make were directed at her, they weren't ALL the usual nasty ones she was used to receiving, they were still 'stiff' related but they were mainly comments about her legs and stomach looking surprisingly nice or that her breasts looked good in her suit.
Andie had told Nix once they were changing from their wet suits into their clothes for bed, Nix with her towel wrapped tightly around her, that 'she should be flattered' as 'most of the guys couldn't take their eyes off her', it hadn't flattered Nix...it had made her feel very uncomfortable.
Once food and washing up after training was out of the way, the initiates would usually have two or three hours of free time before they had to return to their dormitory for their curfew at ten, except on Saturdays, there was no curfew that day.
That's how each day had been throughout those weeks and with each day the training got tougher, Nix had definitely improved with the weapons handling as she now managed to hit every target that she shot at, sometimes they weren't great hits because she and the others were instructed most times to shoot at moving targets that would be brought out but nonetheless she always hit them.
They were introduced to knife throwing on the second day of training and Nix was the best out of all of the initiates at that task, this surprised everyone...including herself, she had hit just outside of the bullseye on her first try which caused Four to suspiciously ask her if she'd had experience with the type of activity before already, she had been very shocked at that even more so since he'd asked her in such an accusatory way.
She was from abnegation so of course she'd had no experience, with nothing, nothing that she'd done since she arrived in dauntless.
From the moment she had picked up that first knife she seamed to go into a zone, maybe it was the fact that she was holding a real weapon, the guns they used were real weapons too but they weren't loaded with live ammunition but one wrong move with the knifes and she could really hurt someone or kill them.
Even with Andie's non stop talking along with the chattering of the other initiates, she didn't break focus for anything until they were finished with their task.
She'd also gotten compliments on her hair from some of her fellow initiates when they'd noticed it before they had started the throwing that day, it seamed to give her a slight confidence boost.
ooo
There was a huge electronic board in the training room and it had everyone's names on it, there was a cut off line from number fifteen onwards and the names after that line were in the colour red...this was the scoring system and since day one until now, Nix's name was in red and below the line.
There were a mixture of dauntless born and transfers in the top fourteen but mostly dauntless born, Andie was also in the top fourteen.
Seeing her name in the red everyday definitely put a dampen on her spirits and sometimes she thought about if the pain she felt physically and emotionally everyday was worth it, she seamed to be stuck at number twenty three for the last twelve days and being stuck there when the initiates were being graded every single day distressed her, she was always pushing herself to her limits yet it was getting her nowhere.
Since the night she'd seen him on her way back to the dormitory, Eric hadn't really physically interacted with her, most days of their training unless he was away doing something elsewhere he would be present in the training room.
He mainly just walked around each of the initiates observing what they were doing and he never lingered near one person for more than a short moment as he did and his attitude towards her training certainly hadn't changed, from him she always received a look of displeasure here or a rude comment of discouragement there, despite that short few of the somewhat nicer initiates and of course Andie, Eric and everyone else seamed to treat Nix as if she was already factionless.
If he wasn't observing then he would be standing near the ring watching sparring or just standing watching what was going on around him.
He would disappear during the training to observe the dauntless born initiates from time to time too, Nix, despite the verbal treatment she was constantly always receiving from him definitely preferred that to a physical interaction.
Andie, who was always there to counter Eric's words with ones of encouragement was watching her more closely during their training as each day went on and her asking if Nix was 'okay?' was becoming a lot more frequent, she'd never really been an angry person before she came to dauntless but thoughts of Eric or of those times during the first couple of days in dauntless with him were usually mainly what triggered it, however, the fact that Andie kept looking at her as if she was some weak wounded animal that needed rescuing was beginning to gradually annoy her, of course being the person that Eric had targeted to be the subject of his cruel and discouraging words everyday would trouble anyone terribly and make them want to quit but the fact that Andie thought that of her too was what hurt the most.
It didn't matter that she was good, maybe even the best at knife throwing above the other initiates, they all seamed to view the combat training as the most important part about being dauntless and they all looked at her the same way...that she was a weak stiff that would be the first person to be thrown out because she was too useless to continue training.
Eric wasn't known for being one to praise an initiate when they performed well in training but he definitely had favourites, it was mainly the dauntless born but from the transfers he seamed to hover the longest when he was observing at Tom, the candor boy, the one that he'd punched on the day they all transferred into dauntless, Nix had come to the conclusion that Eric had punched him that day because he didn't get the satisfaction of shoving her off that roof himself.
Out of the two men Four was the one that would stop at each initiate and either scold them or praise them on what they were doing, sometimes he'd offer them tips or stay with them and either hold their punching bag they were working on as he shouted out instructions at them or he'd spar with them briefly.
He was an extremely good fighter and even taking on board everything he said, every time he would spar with Nix he'd either knock her to the ground by catching her off guard or elbow her in the face by again, catching her off guard.
The list was endless and almost everyday she left training with some type of mark on her body.
She was better than when she first started but she'd only improved slightly, Andie was ferocious when it came to fighting, she punched and kicked the bags she worked on as if they were real people trying to attack her, when the initiates paired up Nix was always a little bit scared of sparring with her, they were friends...they'd actually very quickly became best friends but that didn't stop Andie, she would throw hits that landed and block hits that came her way, Nix was always sweating and breathing hard after practising with her but she liked it because Andie was helping her get better, even if her score didn't improve because of it she definitely felt as if she getting stronger.
Fighting was Andie's bubble, she never looked at Nix with that sympathetic smile when it came to that form of training, she was like Four in a way, she wouldn't go easy on her opponent just for the sake of it or because she was better than them, she really went for it.
Despite going in her bubble when she was fighting Nix noticed that she would always have a glance around for either Four or Eric to see if they were watching her, mainly Eric, she was good and she knew it but she didn't look for him purely because she wanted him to see her skills, ever since that night in the tattoo shop...she wanted him to look at HER.
'Do you think he'll go easy on me? My tattoo isn't sore but there's an uncomfortable feeling there and he did say it would hurt when I took a hit' was what she'd started their conversation off the following day with, Nix had immediately felt irritated and feigned confusion about who she was talking about only for the girl to reply with, 'Eric, he and I were bantering about it remember?', Nix had to resist rolling her eyes at her choice of words and then she responded in a harsher than necessary tone, 'he doesn't banter Andie, it was more of a threat than anything else, he will probably go out of his way to hurt you just to teach you a lesson for having the nerve to talk back to him', if Andie had noticed the tone Nix used she didn't let on about it, instead she'd giggled and made a comment about him 'obviously' having a nicer side to him, Nix would have replied with a humourless laugh but the man himself and Four had arrived and got them started with their training for the day and as Andie had smiled at Eric every time he looked in her direction, which wasn't very often, Nix knew she waiting for him to appear and fulfil his 'promise' that he'd made to her but he never did...he barely even acknowledged her and her disappointment had been very evident.
Twice during the week their training also consisted of going out for a run for an hour with Four, sometimes it was just around the compound and other times they'd actually leave the dauntless compound and go outside.
Nix found it enjoyable out running, she preferred that to getting hit, she was actually pretty decent at it too, she even went running for an hour herself on their day off because she liked it so much, she was limited to the compound when running alone but she didn't mind that, Four always set the pace running at the front of the group when he took them out and she always managed to keep either up with him or just behind him.
ooo
That was how things had gone up until now, Tuesday morning, combat training first, Andie and Nix wandered into the training room with the rest of the initiates just before eight and they found Four and Eric stood side by side just outside of the ring waiting for them, their stance told the group that either something was happening this morning or they had something important to say.
The girls looked at one another curiously as they stopped infront of their instructors followed by the rest of the group, Four was the one to speak, "Today we're going to see if you've been paying attention in training."
"First and last jumper of your group." Eric then added and Andie turned her head to look at Nix, "In the ring."
Nix looked back at Andie then swallowed before she walked forward, as she approached the ring she glanced at Eric who was watching her with a blank face, she turned her head to the other initiates to see who her opponent would be, she'd forgotten who the last jumper was.
"Did I stutter?" Eric asked a beat later in a loud voice and then he immediately boomed behind Nix, "Last jumper!"
After almost a minute of waiting had passed a blonde girl who was one of the quieter initiates stepped forward, there was no denying the fear on her face as she walked towards the ring and Nix could see her shaking from where she was stood waiting, she found it hard to believe that shaking was because she was facing her, it must have been the tone of voice that their oh so joyous leader had used.
Her name Nix then suddenly remembered was Caroline and she was an erudite transfer, she didn't really have much muscle about her instead she was of a slimish build but she had a good three or four inches in height against her and as the girl stepped into the ring Nix brought her arms up in the blocking position and crouched slightly, Caroline immediately halted and just stood there wide eyed watching her, she then looked at Four and asked, "This is just sparring right?"
"No. It's a real fight." Eric answered instantly, "Get on with it."
Nix kept her eyes on Caroline and took a few deep breaths as she waited for the girl to prepare her own arms in the block position and she did, slowly, Eric's voice then said from behind her where he was stood outside the ring, "You could have gotten at least a few hits in already stiff, what are you waiting for?"
At his words, which received some sniggers from the candor transfers and in turn caused anger to slowly build within her, she began to stalk towards Caroline and the girl's eyes were darting up and down her body as she did which gave Nix the opportunity to throw a punch towards the side of the girls head which knocked her off balance slightly and she whimpered then backed away.
For a long moment after that first hit they just moved around the ring with each other, a couple times Nix made a move towards her but she always moved away quickly.
An irritated sound left Eric's mouth before he called out, "Start fighting or either myself or Four will be taking one of your places! And we'll still be scoring you on it!"
At his threat Nix rushed forward and threw a punch towards the side of Caroline's face, then another and then another after that, with each hit her block got worse and she ended up dropping it completely and tried to turn and run away from her but as she did Nix threw a kick out to the bottom of her legs and tripped her so she tumbled to the ground, landing on her front.
There were some whispers from the other initiates after that and Nix looked at them, most of the expressions were blank but others, the candor transfers, they were either sniggering or they had looks of disapproval on their faces but she didn't care what they thought and as much as she didn't want to care what he thought either she couldn't help glancing over at Eric, he was scowling with his jaw clenched where he was stood.
She turned her head back to look at Caroline who was still on the ground, she'd rolled over onto her back and was holding a side of her face that had a red mark from where she'd been hit, Nix whispered to her not to lie there and to get up but the girl shook her head then lightly rubbed her face with a grimace.
Nix made a 'really?' face at her when the girl looked up at her again, the punches really couldn't have hurt her that badly...they weren't even that hard.
"Please...don't." Caroline said, she was close to tears.
"Come on, get up!" Nix replied, this time in a much harsher whisper, "You have to."
Caroline continued to lay there for a beat longer before she attempted to push herself up and she groaned in a pained way as she did, Nix had to resist rolling her eyes and when she glanced at Andie where she was stood outside the ring she could tell that she was thinking the same thing...Caroline was melodramatic.
Nix had only punched her face a couple of times them tripped her up, she hadn't kicked the girl in the ribs like she seamed to be currently acting as if had happened.
"So many opportunities." Eric said loudly for everyone to hear, "And yet, you just stand there? Attack your opponent stiff!"
Nix didn't realise until after it that she'd taken her annoyance at Eric's voice out on Caroline, the second the girl had been back on her feet she threw a hard punch at her abdomen which caused her to immediately double over and when she did Nix then prepared to lift her knee up into her face but she hesitated when she heard the groan of pain come from Caroline.
She was already losing...it wouldn't be right to hurt her anymore, unless she was faking it and getting ready to pounce on her but Nix was pretty sure she wasn't...she hadn't even tried to retaliate in any way yet.
As she thought about this her knee started to lower and she stared down at the girl where she was hunched over begging Nix not to hurt her anymore.
"Do it." Eric's voice said and she looked up at him, he nodded his head, "If you don't both of you lose."
She stared at him for a beat then looked at Caroline holding her stomach and shaking her head but Nix didn't want to lose, she couldn't afford to.
She took a hold of the back of the girl's head and neck then brought her knee up hard into her face and that was it, she collapsed backwards onto the map unconscious.
Nix stared down at her open mouthed and saw a trickle of blood gradually coming from her nose, Four then stepped into the ring and knelt down beside her, he checked her over briefly before he put her arm around his shoulder then stood up and dragged her from the ring.
"That was an easy win, she didn't even try." Eric said to Nix but loud enough for everyone else to hear, "Take note...that's how NOT to fight."
Nix ignored him and watched Four place Caroline outside the ring where he then grabbed a jacket and placed it underneath her head before he stood up and moved back towards the ring, she made a move in his direction but Eric grabbed her forearm and stopped her, she looked up at him and saw he was glaring down at her, "Next time don't hesitate."
She stared at him before yanking her arm from his grasp and continuing towards Four, "Is she okay?"
"She'll be fine, it's not bad enough for her to go to the infirmary...good work." he replied and she looked at Caroline where she lay on the ground unmoving, it didn't feel like good work...Caroline was knocked out.
"Next fight is in a half hour, get on the bags or pair up and spar till then." Eric called out to the group then stepped out of the ring, everyone that was gathered around quickly moved off to do as they were instructed but Nix stayed where she was, staring at Caroline.
"That was great Nix." Andie said as she came up behind Nix and squeezed her shoulder, "I knew you had it in you."
"It sucked." Eric said before Nix could reply and she looked over at him with a scowl, he was stood just outside the ring watching them, "Neither of them tried."
"I DID try." Nix shot back with venom in her voice and Andie's mouth popped open.
"Nix...careful." Four said to her in a warning tone as he suddenly appeared beside the girls.
"Didn't look that way from where I was standing." Eric replied as he walked back into the ring and towards her until he was stood infront of her, "Next time you'll have a real opponent...I promise you that."
He glanced over at where Tom was and the boy was pounding furiously on one of the bags, Nix had followed his gaze then turned away the second she saw who it was.
"I beat her." she said as she looked up at him a beat later, ignoring his threat and he turned back to look at her and smirked.
"You only beat her because she gave up before she'd even stepped in the ring." he replied in a mocking tone.
"No, I beat her because I knocked her out." she snapped back.
"You beat her because she's weak!" he boomed at her and a silence seamed to fall over the entire room before he finished in a low and menacing voice, "Weak like you."
Arguing back with him was pointless and she didn't care anymore about the fact that he was a leader, she was sick of the way she was constantly treated by him and everyone else, dauntless training was hard enough...she'd had enough.
"Screw this." she said as she shoved passed him roughly so her elbow knocked into his arm and then she headed towards the doorway of the training room.
"Where do you think you're going initiate?!" he demanded from where he was still stood in the ring but she ignored him and continued walking then she broke into a run when she heard him shout her name.