On the morning of day four, Eric gleefully tells the transfer initiates that they will begin actual fights. He divides the class into two groups. The first, a group of five that includes Will, Al, Christina, Molly, and Tris, are to stay in the training room with Eric to fight. The others are sent to the gun range with Four. After lunch the two groups will switch so the fighters who don't end up in the infirmary get a chance to practice shooting.
When Four and his initiates leave, Eric leads his five through a series of stretches and a short warm-up run. Tris is pleased to realize that the running is getting easier for her, but most of her emotions revolve around anxiety about the fights.
She's far smaller than the people she's left with. She was hoping to get Myra for her first fight as that would be her best chance for victory, but the other girl was put in Four's group. Christina is the smallest person in her group, but Tris really doesn't want to fight her friend. Will and Al are her friends too, and they're also much bigger than Tris. Molly, too, is much larger, a solid tank of a girl who would be hard to take down.
The worst option of all is that Tris might have to fight Eric himself. The ruthless young leader would probably love to show off by crushing an initiate. Tris can only hope that beating on a small girl like herself wouldn't be enough of a challenge to tempt his ego.
"Will and Al," Eric calls when they finish their mile, "in the ring!"
The two boys step into the fighting ring and face one another.
"Go!" Eric prompts impatiently.
"What… what do we do?" Al asks.
"You fight!" Eric snaps.
"Until when?" Will asks. "Is there a timer or something?"
Eric's face is growing red, and Tris regards him nervously.
"Dauntless never give up!" he hollers. "You fight until one of you can't fight anymore! Now stop gossiping and start fighting!"
The boys comply. Tentatively at first, then with increasing intensity, Will and Al exchange blows. Al is bigger, and packs a harder punch. But Will is faster, and dodges more easily. He wears Al down with body blows, but one lucky hard blow that lands on Will's temple knocks him out cold.
Eric instructs Al to help him drag his unconscious victim off the mat, then administers smelling salts. When Will wakes up, Eric looks into his eyes with a little light and declares that the smaller boy will be fine.
Christina is obviously shaken, upset by her soulmate's beating, but Eric gives her no sympathy. "Christina and Molly," Eric barks, "in the ring."
Like Will and Al, the two girls start out by circling one another, sizing each other up and looking for weaknesses. Christina kicks Molly in the stomach, and the stocky girl makes an "oof" sound. But the blow only seems to enrage her, and Molly comes at Christina with a vengeance.
Molly lands several hard blows, including one that probably broke Christina's nose. Laying on the floor, Christina squeaks out the words, "I… I can't. I quit."
"You give up?" Eric asks. "Had enough?"
Christina nods, and Tris covers her face. Not good, she thinks. We can't quit. He's going to make her factionless.
"Come with me," Eric commands, offering a hand to help Christina off the floor. "All of you, come with me."
The young leader keeps a hand on Christina's back, guiding her through the halls as the others follow. When they get to the bridge over the chasm, Eric grabs Christina and hauls her over the safety rail, making the former Candor scream in terror.
"Grab the railing," he instructs her. In her terror she responds only with more screams. "Grab the railing!" Eric says more firmly. Tris notices his arms shake a little with the strain of holding the girl.
Christina complies, and Eric lets her go. "You have three options," he explains. "One, you can give up and die. Two, you can quit initiation and leave Dauntless right now. Or three, you can hang there for five minutes, and I'll forgive your insubordination."
"You can do it, Babe!" Will cheers, but his voice sounds desperate and fearful. Al checks his watch.
"Dauntless are the protectors of this city and everyone in it," Eric instructs as we all watch Christina. "We are the only thing standing between them and danger. If your mother, your sister, your child, your best friend was under attack, would you give up when the fight got hard? No! You would fight until you won or died trying. We train for that life because we live that life. Dauntless never give up!"
Christina gives a shaky nod at the leader. She understands. He reaches over the railing and grabs her wrists, hauling her back onto the bridge.
"People see the stunts, the games, the tattoos. They forget what we're really here for. Don't be one of those people," Eric says. "Now go to lunch and be back in the training room at one o'clock."
In the afternoon, Eric takes their group to the range, while Four's group fights. The leader acts like nothing unusual happened that morning - as if he didn't almost let Christina fall to her death. Instead, he focuses on Al, making the big initiate practice with knives while the others get to choose knives or guns.
Tris chooses the gun, disassembling and reassembling it several times before loading a magazine and stepping to the line. Her aim is better than the first day of shooting. The gun feels less foreign in her hands, and the recoil less startling. She still only hits the center of the bullseye once in a while, but her grouping of bullet holes is getting tighter.
.
xxxx
.
Day five is fights again. This time the trainers keep all nine transfers together, and their pairings are posted on a chalkboard when they arrive. Tris scans the list and sees that she is paired with… Peter. Oh no, she thinks, the sadistic asshole.
She had heard how Peter and Edward squared off that first afternoon. The fight was brutal, aggressive, and ultimately won by Edward. So not only is Peter one of the group's strongest fighters, he also has a chip on his shoulder after losing his first fight.
Tris tries to look strong and unconcerned as she stands around and watches Al and Christina in the first fight. Al makes a half-hearted effort. Tris knows that beating Will sat heavy with the former Candor. She even heard him crying after lights out. Christina, on the other hand, has a new fire and determination after being hung over the chasm. Something Eric said must have resonated with the girl. Either that or the victory of surviving her chasm hang encouraged her, because she's ready to fight, in spite of Al's imposing stature.
After a few minutes of sparring, Al drops to the mat, seemingly unconscious. Tris doesn't believe it, and by the looks on their faces, neither do the trainers.
"Winner, Christina," Eric says unenthusiastically as Four circles her name on the chalkboard. "Next fight, Peter and Tris."
Tris walks toward the mats. "He steps right before he throws," Edward says quietly as she walks past him and Myra.
"Elbows and knees, you got this," Four says quietly as he lifts the ring for Tris to climb in.
The fighting ring's floor is slightly springy, and Tris bounces a little as she gets used to the feeling and takes a fighting stance.
"You look like you're gonna cry, Stiff," Peter taunts. "Maybe I'll go easier on you if you do."
"Shut up and fight!" Eric yells.
Peter lunges at Tris, stepping before he swings, just like Edward said. Tris easily dodges the first punch, and makes a mental note that she could get an elbow into Peter's middle if he tries that again.
Fortunately, he does, and Tris slams her elbow into his ribs. Unfortunately, she doesn't get out of the way in time, and he tackles her as he falls to the mat.
Peter grabs Tris by the throat and slams her head into the floor. She sees stars, but manages to jerk her knee into the boy's crotch in a move that has every male in the room cringing.
Peter groans as he rolls off of Tris. She jumps to her feet, though she sways a little from the pain in her head and the unstable floor surface. That gives Peter enough of a break that he jumps to his feet as well.
Blows to the head stun, Tris thinks. But how do I hit the head of a taller opponent?
Peter pretends to lunge toward Tris, and she falls for the feint. Peter's foot meets her ducking side, and Tris hears a crack as intense pain shoots through her body.
She staggers, but does not fall as she gasps for air. She sees Four leaving the room, but doesn't see the blow to her temple that knocks her out cold.
.
xxxx
.
Hana Pedrad has worked in the Dauntless infirmary for 22 years - ever since her own initiation. She has seen broken bones, cuts and bruises, and more concussions than she can count. But as she treats initiate Tris Prior, she sees something that she has only seen on two other occasions - double soulmarks. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, Tris' marks are in the same location on her body that the others were.
Hana picks up the phone and calls the leadership office to report the anomaly. "Eric," she says to the young leader when he answers the phone, "this is Hana in the infirmary. I need to see you about one of the initiates. You better bring Four." She hangs up before the young man has a chance to ask any follow-up questions.
Just moments later the two young trainers come running into the infirmary, skidding to a halt in the waiting area.
"Is she okay?" Four asks breathlessly.
"Can she continue training?" Eric adds.
Hana chuckles to herself. "Come with me," she says.
She leads the men into a hospital room. There they find Tris, badly bruised and unconscious, looking small and frail in the big white hospital bed.
"Tris has a cracked rib and a concussion," Hana says, "plus a number of bruises. She will recover. She'll be sore tomorrow, and will need several days away from fighting, but she'll be fine after that. I'm keeping her here overnight."
"That's fine," Four says. "Tomorrow we're not fighting, and the day after that is Visiting Day, so they get that day off anyway. Will she be okay to get on and off the train tomorrow night? It's capture the flag."
"I'm not sure," Hana hedges. "That's up to her. We've done what we can, now her body just needs to heal."
"Why did you drag us down here if she's going to be fine?" Eric snarls.
"There's something you need to see," Hana explains, moving toward the bed. "Get close."
Four follows Hana to Tris' side, near her right hand, while Eric stands on the injured girl's left. The medic carefully scoots Tris' hospital gown up, then inches the blanket down, revealing Tris' right hip.
Four sees the words, "What's your name?" in his own handwriting in Abnegation grey on her hip. It's the same place where his hip also has grey letters, but his just says "Um."
Hana holds up a finger before Eric can voice his objections to being called down to see a simple soulmark. She covers the grey mark and carefully reveals Tris' other hip, where she has a blue mark. "Welcome to Dauntless," Eric sees in his own blocky handwriting.
The young leader swears under his breath.
"Double soulmarks are very rare," Hana says. "I've only seen it twice before. Do you know where?"
"Us?" Eric guesses, knowing he's one of them and assuming Four must be the other.
"Yes," says Hana. "Do you recognize your handwriting?"
The men both nod, then glare at one another across the hospital bed.
"But her grey mark is on her right hip," Four objects, grasping for a way out of the situation. "My grey mark is on my left. They're supposed to be the same."
Hana sighs, knowing the two men aren't going to like what she says next. "If you put your Abnegation grey mark next to Tris' grey mark, then you both have blue marks on your other side. So an Erudite-born with two grey marks would complete the circle."
Eric swears again, and Four looks up at him in shock. "You?" Four asks in shock.
Eric slides the waistband of his pants low enough to reveal his hip. There, in neat, feminine grey script is the word "me."
"I looked right at her when I welcomed the new initiates," Eric explains, gently sliding a finger over the blue letters on Tris' exposed hip. "Then I asked who wanted to jump first, and she said…"
"Me," Four finishes. "Then she jumped, and when I helped her out, I asked for her name, and she hesitated. My grey mark says 'Um.'"
Eric swears again. "I'm afraid to ask what your blue mark says."
"It says 'Watch out, Stiff,'" Tobias tells Eric. "What does your other mark say?"
"Shut up," Eric replies.
Four and Hana stare at Eric for a moment. He rolls his eyes and peels back his pants on the left side, revealing the words, "Shut up." They nod in understanding, and Four gets a twinkle in his eye, but quickly suppresses it.
"How is this possible?" Four asks Hana mournfully. "I don't like guys, and I really don't like him."
"Yeah," says Eric. "I've had some, uh, adventures, and fun is fun, but I'm not into guys either. Especially not him."
"I don't know what to tell you," Hana says. "You're the only ones I've ever seen with double marks. They all line up, and you both know that your first interactions with Tris are right. I know the two of you don't get along, but you certainly both seem drawn to Tris. I saw the way you came rushing in here when I called you."
"What do we do?" Eric asks.
"Nothing," Four says firmly. "We do nothing. She's an initiate and we're her trainers. We train her. That's all." With that, Four storms out of the room.
….
A/N: Okay, readers. I gave you a chapter a day to get the ball rolling. But it's getting real in here, so I've dropped back to weekly updates as originally planned. I think update day will be on Tuesdays. Just a reminder, I don't own anything and I'm not making any money doing this. I'm just having fun and enjoying a creative outlet that allows me to spend more time with characters I liked. This story is completely written, and it's 30 chapters plus a brief epilogue.
Thank you for all the follows, favorites, and reviews. They brighten my day!
XOXO,
Libby