A/N: I'm loving all the reviews. Thank you! I have plenty of surprises in store for you. Enjoy!
XOXO, Libby
Other than Four's obvious hangover, the field trip to Amity and the wall is uneventful. So is their day of testing on weapons. Tris finishes third after Edward and Will on the field strip and reassembly test. She's in the middle of the group for marksmanship, which Edward and Peter win. She comes in first on knife throwing.
Physical fitness is where Tris is weakest. All of the other transfers can do more pushups and sit-ups than she can, and most of them run faster. But they're also tested on how much they've improved over what they could do on day one, so Tris hopes her progress will boost her score.
The last day of phase one is their final fight, and Tris is paired with Molly. In spite of the other girl's dominant size, Tris is glad. Molly is a bully who has taken every opportunity to body shame and belittle Tris. She hid the smaller girl's clothes while Tris was showering. She made a series of rude remarks about Abnegation in general, and the Priors specifically. She even suggested that Tris' parents had neglected and abused their "unlovable" daughter.
When the two girls enter the ring, Tris frees her rage and decimates her opponent in spite of the size difference. When Molly is unable to continue fighting, Eric has to physically stop the fight by dragging Tris off the defeated bully.
After dinner, the transfers wait in the dorm until their trainers arrive with a poster board showing the current ranks. Tris is thrilled to see her name in the number five slot of the nine transfers. Even if all of the Dauntless-borns outranked them, Tris, Christina, Will, Peter, and Edward are safe.
Molly and Drew, ranked sixth and seventh, are furious. Myra and Al, ranked eighth and ninth, are worried. As the arguing and crying commence, Tris slips out of the dorm room.
She wanders the halls of Dauntless until curfew, then sneaks back into the dorm. Most of the initiates are already in bed, their tears and tantrums over. Tris slips off her shoes and climbs into bed fully dressed. She tries to sleep, but can't.
Just as she's starting to drift off, a piercing scream rips through the dorm. Someone flips on the light, and when her eyes adjust, Tris sees Edward writhing on the floor in a pool of blood. Myra is sitting in her own bed, screaming her lungs out.
Tris lurches out of bed and is at Edward's side in a second. "Will!" she yells. "Go get help! Christina, get Myra calmed down. The screaming isn't helping!"
Will bolts from the room, and Christina wraps Myra in a hug, turning her face away from Edward.
Tris moves Edward's hands away from the object lodged in his eye, which appears to be a butter knife. "Get it out!" he screams. "Get it out!"
Tris speaks soothingly to the injured boy, even as her own tears run freely down her face. "Don't touch it," she says. "Help is coming. It will be okay. Just focus on breathing. You'll be fine." Logically, Tris has no idea if anything will ever be alright again, but she says so to soothe the panicked and pained boy laying in a pool of his own blood.
Medics arrive from the infirmary and take Edward and Myra away. The other initiates wander back to their bunks, but make no attempt to go back to sleep, or even shut off the light. Christina joins Will in his bed.
For several long minutes, Tris just sits and shivers, chilled by horror and the blood that wets her clothes. Eventually she climbs to her feet and walks to the bathroom for towels. She leaves a trail of red footprints on the hard floor as she walks back and forth, grabbing clean paper towels from the bathroom and depositing the bloodied ones in the trash. When the towels have nothing else to soak up, Tris switches to wet, soapy towels, washing the floor like her sanity depends on getting it cleaned up - and it just might.
Hearing the news that a transfer initiate was stabbed, Eric and Four both rush to the dorms, nearly colliding as they reach the door at the same time. Eric yanks it open, and their eyes dart around the room. Christina and Will are huddled in a bunk, their arms wrapped tightly around each other as Christina sobs. Al and, surprisingly, Molly, also look like they've been crying. Drew looks shocked, his pale skin even whiter than usual. Peter sports an innocent expression that instantly sets Eric's teeth on edge. Tris is on the floor, shaking violently and wiping at the cold concrete with a wet towel.
Four notices that her black clothes appear wet. Eric notices the blood on her shaking hands. The two men look at one another and nod.
"Stiff," Eric says. Tris doesn't seem to hear him, though every other eye in the room snaps to him.
"Tris!" he tries a little louder. Still no reaction or recognition.
"Beatrice," Four says, trying the name he knows her parents used for her.
Tris' head pops up, and she glances around. When her eyes land on the two trainers, her lip starts to quiver, and her entire body shakes more violently.
"Tris, we need to take you to the infirmary," Four says firmly but gently.
"No, no, no," Tris mutters, shaking her head. "All this blood… Edward… blood… I have to clean this up." She gestures at the floor, but the only blood visible is what her dirty clothes are smearing when she moves.
Four cautiously moves closer, and kneels beside Tris on the floor. "Will you come with me, Beatrice?" Four asks. "I need your help. Can you help me?"
"Candor," Eric barks, pointing at Christina. "Get an outfit for the stiff."
Christina unfolds herself from Will's arms and moves cautiously to Tris' foot locker. She digs through the black clothing, considering the available items.
"Come on, Candor," Eric growls. "Pants, shirt, underwear, shoes. It's not a fashion show. As long as it's not soaked in blood, anything will do."
Christina hands Eric a pile of black fabric and Tris' sneakers.
"We'll take tomorrow off," Eric tells everyone. "Try to get some sleep."
The two men debate taking Tris to the infirmary, but they both know that the infirmary staff will have their hands full with Edward, and that there is little that the medics can do for Tris anyway. They decide to take her to Eric's apartment since it is both larger and closer than Four's.
Tris walks along between the two trainers zombie-like. Every once in a while she mumbles, but all they can make out is something about blood or Edward. When she stumbles on uneven ground, both men reach out for her arms. She grabs their hands, and that's when the tears start.
When they reach Eric's apartment, Tris is still unresponsive, just mumbling, crying, and shaking. Eric sits her in a wooden chair that won't be damaged by her bloody clothes.
"What do we do?" Four asks.
"She's in shock," Eric says. "Basically her brain is trying to protect itself from what she saw, and the adrenaline crash isn't helping. We need to get her cleaned up."
"How?" Four asks.
"I'd be happy to strip her down and give her a bath," Eric says sarcastically, "but I don't think she would appreciate it. Do you know if Hana is off tonight?"
"I think she's working," Four says. "But Shauna is around. I can go get her."
Eric nods, and Four bolts out the door, grateful for something productive to do. With the other man out of the room, Eric gives in to the pull that he's been fighting since he first saw his soulmate shaking on the dorm floor. He wraps his arms around Tris' small, soft body, and just holds her.
Tris sighs in Eric's arms. She feels warm and safe. She inhales his masculine scent, and things come into focus.
"Eric?" she asks, not relaxing her grip on the young leader.
"It's okay," he tells her. "I've got you. You're safe with me."
"Where are we?" Tris asks, alarm in her voice. "How did we get here?"
"You walked," he says, running his hands down her long blonde hair. "You were in shock, so Four and I brought you here."
"Where's here? And where's Four?"
"We're in my apartment," Eric explains, still not relaxing his hold. "Four went to get Shauna."
"Shauna?"
"His friend," Eric says. "She was in our initiate class. Her boyfriend is Four's friend, Zeke. You need to get cleaned up, and we figured you would prefer a female to help you."
"Oh!" Tris replies. "I can do it myself. I don't need help."
"You're a little shaky," Eric chuckles. "I would feel better if there was another woman here. In case you fall or something."
Tris nods against Eric's shoulder, and the two just sit until the door opens and Four walks in with a dark-haired girl.
"How is she?" Four asks.
"Better," Eric says, pulling away from Tris, but keeping his hands on her shoulders.
Tris reaches a hand toward Four, and he takes it, giving her a reassuring smile and a gentle squeeze. "This is my friend, Shauna," he says.
"I'm Tris," she says, offering to shake hands in the typical Dauntless manner.
Shauna eyes Tris hand warily. "No offense," she says, "but let's get you cleaned up first."
Tris looks at her hand and sees the dry blood under her nails and embedded in her skin. "Good idea," she says. "I didn't realize how bad it was."
Eric shows the women to his bathroom. He gets out a garbage bag for Tris' stained clothes, a special gritty soap that's made for tough cleaning, as well as a clean, fluffy towel. Shauna stays in the bathroom with the younger woman until Tris reaches out of the shower and hands her the bag of bloodied clothes, assuring her that she will be fine on her own.
Shauna carries the bag of clothes to Eric, who takes it out to the garbage chute.
"Okay, what's going on?" she asks Four.
"I told you," he says. "One of the initiates got stabbed in the eye. Tris apparently took charge until help got there, then started cleaning up. She went into shock."
"Don't play dumb," Shauna says. "You're working together with Eric. You let that girl touch your hand. You're acting all… concerned. I think you like her."
"It's complicated," says Eric, standing in the doorway.
"Because she's an initiate?" Shauna asks.
"That's part of it," Eric says.
"I really can't talk about this," Four groans.
"Fine," Shauna huffs, "but this is not over."
"No, it's not," Eric says.