Chapter 5: Revealing the Truth
Summary:
Consequences have actions. Hannah reveals a little bit of what she knows about Eric. Four and Eric even decide to have a heart to heart.
Chapter Text
Chapter Five
"She seriously attacked a Dauntless member, and we are going to reward her, by teaching her to read." I ask exasperated.
When I was called to a meeting this morning with the rest of the leaders, this was not what I had planned. I assumed Four would be demanding Hannah to be removed from the faction. Instead, his Abnegation was showing hard this morning and he was pushing for forgiveness.
"Do we even know that she can't read?" Harrison questions: "She could just not have found the paperwork to be of any importance. I feel like that most days Eric is looking for reports."
"Nate came up with the theory, and according to those helping with the relocation at the testing centre, it's common among those who were born factionless." Four shares with the group. "Tris honestly, just wants to move on from last night. I understand she needs discipline, but we don't even know what set her off. It's something we all knew we would have to work through with her."
"Does it even matter what set her off? She needs to learn control." I say to the leaders. I glare at Four addressing my next comment to him: "This sounds a lot more like your girlfriend than you. You whipped that bad?"
"If I remember correctly Eric, you were brought to my office plenty of times during your initiation. You just couldn't keep your fists away from Four." Max comments giving me a firm look from the other side of the conference table.
"Four also pulled plenty of those punches, and we knew we were egging each other on. Hannah attacked Tris because she welcomed her to Dauntless, and for suggesting she get a haircut." I stand up from my seat. "We need to treat her like we would with any other person here."
"But she isn't like everyone else," Tori says. "She needs help to see we really don't have bad intentions for her time here. She doesn't feel safe, we need to make her feel like she can be a part of our lives here." She pulls a file out from her stack: the folder has a picture of Hannah when she first got here. "This girl has spent sixteen years with people abusing and assaulting her. She's been without her mother for years and had to fight to survive. She isn't going to walk in here and have sleepovers with everyone." She looks directly at me: "Foster suggests some gentle exercises, to help work out any extra energy or aggression: she sent me a list of approved exercises. I will forward them to you, Eric." She glares at me, but the woman does not scare me.
"She needs to be spending time with other people, not everyone at once, but if we let her get to know some more people around Dauntless. Keep her away from faction gatherings for the time being and just let her get settled." Max orders, looking at the other leaders who all agree with his commands.
"Who is she with at the moment?" Four questions looking at me.
"I left her with Nate and Uriah. She hadn't left her room when I was leaving this morning, but she should be awake by now." Ready to be done with the rest of them and in the need of a second coffee I head towards the door. "I think that's the end of our meeting, I will go and make sure my apartment is still standing."
The walk to the apartment is quiet, with it still being early in the morning, many are still not up for the day. Unlocking the door, I find Nate and Uriah sitting on the sofa, coffees in hand. Hannah is nowhere to be found, and her door is still closed.
"She's still asleep?" I question the two men raising my eyebrow. The serum should have worn off by now, and I can't imagine her sleeping in without the pills they gave her during her stay downstairs.
"There have been some noises in there for a while, but we thought it would be best to wait till you came back," Nate responds, from his spot on the sofa. Both of them with their feet on my coffee table.
I head over and open the door without knocking. She is standing upright beside the dresser. She looks defensive and ready to fight again. "You ready to grace us with your presence today? We don't sleep in, things to do."
"They aren't out there, are they? You are sending me away?" I didn't think it was possible, but she tries to move further away from me.
"Who are you talking about? It's only Nate and Uriah out there: they work together in the control room. I had a meeting this morning, so they decided to stay to look out for you." I walk over to her drawer and pull out some clothes for her to change into. "Tris and Four left after they finished dinner. I'm assuming you didn't want to say goodbye to your new friends?" I smirk at her, and she only scowls back at me.
"They're going to punish me?" She questions still watching me warily as I walk around the room.
"There will be a punishment, but it's a joke really, don't panic. If I was making the rules it would be much worse. Now would you put clothes on and get out of here. After breakfast, we are going to go for a little run."
I turn around and leave her to get ready. Heading into the living room and head straight for the coffee machine, pulling two mugs down. Grabbing one before sitting with the two guys.
"How did your meeting go? Four got it out for your girl?" Nate questions with a chuckle. Uriah almost snorts the rest of his coffee.
"One, she is not my girl. I don't know if you could call her a girl." Hitting Nate in the arm from my spot on the sofa. "They were surprisingly lenient in her punishment if you could even call it that. They want her to start education classes, make sure she at least has the basis. I have been allowed to take her for some training. Nothing remotely Dauntless, just tire her out at the moment. They still think she can be part of the initiation class."
"I assume you training her is enough of a punishment. I remember the odd times you came into our class, you scared half of the initiates shitless." Uriah says: "Is she even allowed to train? Marlene was one of the nurses on her case, and I know she's meant to be recovering."
"Foster sent through what she should and shouldn't do." I snap at him, knowing that he would not be the only one commenting on my methods. It happened every single year with the initiates and would happen again. We are a strong faction, that should mean we only accept the strong.
Before Uriah can respond Hannah has stepped out of her room, watching the three of us. She keeps her eyes on us as she walks over to the kitchen, and I remind her quickly about her meds and tell her to drink the coffee.
The sofa doesn't face the kitchen, but we hear the mug shatter on the floor, coffee spilling over the baseboards and Hannah's feet. "What the fuck is that?" She shouts as she stares down at the mess on the floor.
"Coffee," I inform her, watching her bend down to touch the shards on the floor. She sets her finger on the first one, realizing it's sharp. She wraps her hand around one of the pieces, standing to look over at us. While she was defensive in her room, she is ready to attack. I see the thought process run through her head, and I stand instantly. "Hannah, don't even think about it! I will make sure you don't make it out of the room."
The other two, now turn around at my words, and it's obvious that it has just dawned on them who they were watching. Their eyes are wide as they look at Hannah, seeing what I am seeing. How she is thinking of using the broken ceramic as a weapon.
"Step away and go and change your socks," I say, and she seems to think about it for a minute. Before she drops the piece back on the floor and steps away from the broken ceramic and liquid on the floor. As the door slams shut I move over to the mess on the floor, starting to clear it up from the floor.
"You really think she would have tried?" Uriah questions as he comes over to help me clear up.
"You really think sane people bite your brother?" Uriah shakes his head. "Her goal in life has been to survive, no matter what may come, and whoever gets in her way. It will continue to be so for a long time."
"We can at least say she is resourceful. Always a good quality for a Dauntless soldier." Nate says as he stands against the counter.
"Following orders and self-control are more what we are looking for." Checking the floor to make sure I have lifted every last piece. When I'm satisfied I have it all I turn to the two of them. "It might be best if you both head-on. She's going to be snappy when she comes out." We start walking to the door: "I'll let you know when you can stop by again, Max wants more people around her, thinks it might help."
When the door shuts behinds them, Hannah walks out of her room again. "You take your meds?"
She looks at me in the same way moody teenagers would when their parents remind them to eat their breakfast. This time she pulls a glass out and fills it with water to take her medication. She swallows them quickly and finishes the rest of the glass.
"I'm assuming you aren't a coffee drinker then?" Her back is to me as she washes out the glass.
"It's hot and bitter. I don't know why anyone would want it." She says with a look of disgust on her face.
"It takes a certain type of person to drink coffee, especially back coffee. Come on we are going for a run."
"We are going outside?" She looks hopeful, and I know she would be thinking about her chance to escape.
"Not a chance in hell," I say as I walk out the front door, making sure she is following me. "We are heading to one of the training rooms. There shouldn't be too many there at this time."
She follows me through the quiet hallways but is looking around at everything we pass. I can see her calculating where we are going, trying to remember her way around. She notices the red blinking light of the cameras, and I remind her that someone is always watching.
We make our way into the training room and thankfully no one is here at this time. I lead her over to the start of the running track that goes the whole of the outskirts of the room.
"Let's start with some simple stretches and then you will follow me around the track. You will go at the pace I set; you will copy everything that I do." She nods her head and watches me as I start warming up.
She copies my moves: when I lunge she copies, when I stretch my handspring she does the same. I always enjoy feeding my ego when someone blindly follows my commands and to know for once she's not fighting is the icing on the cake. Once I am satisfied we are both ready to go I head for the track.
The first couple of laps are at a brisk jog. She is a single stride behind me and doesn't seem to be struggling to keep up with me. She is taking in her surroundings, keeping a careful eye on the door, any time we hear a noise.
We have been going around a few times when Tori enters. She nods over at us but leaves us to our run. Hannah's always keeping watch over her as she goes through her own exercises. I speed up our pace, Hannah does as well, but she's not concentrating on me.
After another ten laps, Four is coming in with Zeke, heading over to spare on the mats. Hannah flat out stares at them. She recognises the two of them, and she glares at them. I imagine she is planning to torture and kill them, and it gets a snort out of me. I pick up the speed again, I notice she now strains to keep the pace but doesn't fall too far behind me. Her breathing gets heavier and her head and arms glisten with sweat.
On our fifth lap, round at our new speed I can hear her gulp for air. With both Four and Tori looking over at me. I slow the speed down before they come over and claim I'm trying to kill her.
"Take ten, there's water over by the weights." I point her in the general direction, and she tumbles over in that direction.
I walk over to the mats to watch Four and Zeke. The bandage is still on Zeke's shoulder, he seems to have most of his motion back, but it's obviously a weak spot when Four connects with it.
"You're not pushing too hard?" Four quietly asks when they notice me standing there by myself.
"Nothing she couldn't handle," I state throwing a look over my shoulder to see where she is. She's still over by the water, sitting up against the wall.
"We want to make sure she recovers. She has an infection in her lung right?" Four says as he steps down from the mat to stand beside me.
"Lung and liver. She has her medication for the next few weeks, but she needs to continue moving to help the rest of her body." I state as we both look over at her. "It might also help her to settle all of her energy down, calm her mind. Being locked in my office or apartment is not going to do either of us much good."
"As long as she doesn't lose any more weight. You can't take your anger out on her either. At least until she's an initiate like everyone else." Four states now looking at me to make sure I am taking him seriously.
As Four and I are speaking I watch Tori head over towards Hannah. Zeke has joined us and is now talking to Four about a party or something of the sort. I assume I am meant to be listening, but my full attention is on the two women in the corner. Tori has now slid down the wall and is sitting beside Hannah. I can tell she is side-eyeing the leader, she's uncomfortable.
"Earth to Eric?" Zeke comments. I turn around to face the two of them again, and they both look amused. I raise my eyebrow in a question to Zeke. "I was questioning what your work schedule is going to look like now you have Hannah?"
"At the moment I'm working from home, but I'm not going to be able to keep it to that. I'm going to have her for six weeks at least until initiation. Hopefully, she becomes an initiate, but I'm doubtful for that though." I sigh looking back towards them, happy that they still seem to be pleasant towards each other. "She's not safe to just let her walk around, I don't even think some of the guards are capable of keeping an eye on her. She was going to attack Nate, Uriah and I with a broken mug."
"You're not serious?" Four looks horrified and slightly confused at my statement.
"You didn't see her face; she literally had picked up a bit of broken mug and was planning on stabbing her way out of the room. She only thought about it, but it's in her. It doesn't take much to get her on the defensive and she spends her time looking for a way to run out of here. She's going to be constantly fighting us on every matter. She's never going to be a soldier, but a rebel."
"Come on, she's only been here a few days, just let her settle in," Zeke says, again trying to play the friend card. "What else would happen if she continues to attack people?"
Four and I make eye contact, no one has said it out loud yet, but the only way would be to detain her, keep her locked in a cell for the rest of her life. No one wants to think about it yet, but we are all thinking about the alternative. At the moment, she has not been able to overpower me, and the likelihood is slight, if not non-existent, but I will eventually have to return to my normal duties.
"We aren't there yet." Four simply sates to Zeke. "Come on Eric, you and me let's see if I'm still stronger."
We head onto the mat, and we start to spare. It's not as vicious as our fights during initiation but there is still some force behind our punches, as we both try to prove our worth.
During our fight, Hannah and Tori make their way over towards us, and I hear Tori explaining some of the training we had. When I catch a glance at Hannah she looks relaxed beside Tori, and actively try to listen to their conversation.
Tori must introduce her to Zeke, and he starts talking a mile a minute. Zeke shows no nerves around her, even though she attacked him mere days ago.
While I'm looking over at the trio, Four notices I'm no longer concentrating fully on the fight, and since he isn't me, he stops. We are both surprised when we hear a loud laugh, and I'm even more surprised when I see that it's Hannah who is the one making the noise.
"What are you three talking about?" Four asks while he steps down from the mat. He looks surprised that Hannah is having a civil conversation, and if I was honest, I was as well.
"Zeke wants me to tattoo the imprint of Hannah's teeth on his shoulder. Thinks it will make him look tougher."
"This some joke to you?" I say to them. "You're going to praise her for attacking a Dauntless member, and not her only one. She is to be punished for what she has done. Zeke, you were a patrol leader on that shift, you should be ashamed of your actions. Unless is protecting the city a joke for you." Both Hannah and Zeke stare at me.
"Come on now Eric, you know that's not what anyone is saying. I think Hannah understand the seriousness of what's going on. We just want her to know we aren't out to get her." Tori says as she defends the two beside her as if they were best friends.
"But she's out to get us. You don't think she's not standing there planning on getting out of here. How many does she need to attack before you see her for what she really is?" Hannah huffs at me and I'm nearly certain I hear her growl.
"Eric, I think you've said enough." Four says beside me, trying to get between Tori and I ever the protector of the whole faction.
Hannah has now stepped a couple of steps away from where she originally stood. She looks ready to bolt and I wouldn't blame her at this moment.
"You think I want to be here? Do you think I want to be trapped here with you? I'm being held in this place against my will. I never asked to be brought here and told how much of an animal I am. To have you stand there and judge me. I hear the things you say about me. I may have never been to school or received any hospital care before, but I am not stupid or deaf. You want to control me, you want to look at me, call me a bitch, factionless scum, and god knows what else. You think you are so much better than me. You think I'm the monster here. I know exactly who you are." She steps forward and is now shouting into my face. "Oh, we heard everything about you even out on the streets. How you had planned on murdering innocent people? How you would do whatever that woman told you to do. You turned her over the minute you knew things were going to shit. I'm not the monster, you are!"
I want to slap her. I want to punch her. I want her dead. As she stands there with a murderous look on her, that's directed at me and me only. She's the only one who has said anything this pointed to my face: not even those from candor.
"You don't know anything about me. You have no clue what happened between Jeanine and I. You are no saint, and neither am I, but I have never claimed I was. There's more to the story than you have heard on those streets. You are in Dauntless for your own protection, and I guarantee you this is better than any alternative that is going to come your way. It's about time you woke up Princess."
The other three stand beside us, not sure how to proceed with this moment. We have yet to lay hands on each other, but we aren't far from it. No one wants to deal with the paperwork or Max on this.
Tori is the first to speak: "How about I finish Hannah's training this morning. Eric, you could maybe head to your office, and I can drop her off in time for your lunch break at your apartment?" She raises her eyebrow and I know this is not a suggestion, but a command and that infuriates me.
I nod my head and stomp out with Four hot on my heel. I stop and he almost walks right into me. "Make sure Zeke stays with them, she really does have a short fuse, I would hate for something to happen."
"Tori can look after herself, but I'm sure Zeke will at least stay until the situation isn't so hot in there." Four leads me towards the offices and steps into mine, before closing the door. "You need coffee?"
"The strongest one." Four heads to the machine that is sitting on the bookcase, it's the same as the one in my apartment. "I could kill her," I say to Four, as he sets the coffee in front of me.
"You're pissed because some of what she said is true." He pauses and sighs before continuing. "I know we never talk about it, but you know plenty of people talk. What really happened?"
I sigh but know that he isn't going to let me stop after that outburst. "Jeanine tracked me down after one of the faction leader meetings. She fed me lies about people trying to tear down the factions from the inside. That she was worried they were worming their way into some shady business. I was to bring them to her because they weren't certain if Candor was corrupt or not. She didn't mention any of them being divergent. She started making plans for Abnegation during Tris' initiation. She thought the serums weren't working properly because I gave everyone a placebo. I figured out what she was doing, what she really was doing about a year ago. I was paranoid, I didn't know who I could talk to, or could help me with taking down Jeanine, but also not reveal who I was too."
"Who you were?" Four questions and I know what he is really wanting to ask.
"Yes, I am one of those that Jeanine was hunting. I am divergent. Dauntless and Erudite. She had no fucking clue. She thought because of my education at Erudite I was smart for someone at Dauntless." Four nods along with me, and I know he wants to ask more. "I didn't mean to leak the email. After it was sent I thought that was it. I grabbed a bottle of scotch and sat in my office waiting for someone to come in and take me away. I thought it was my death sentence. Max was the first one through the door and he brought me straight to Candor. It was a closed questioning and I told them everything. I thought they would kill me, but they took all the information against the others, and I was let go. No one knew and no one was ever supposed to know."
"Eric, you saved so many people. Those in Abnegation, those of us who are Divergents. We don't have to live in fear anymore. You gave people a choice of how they could live their lives. Each time it came to the second stage I dreaded learning who was one. Trying my best to help and hide it, but there were still some who didn't make it. This is the first year where I wouldn't be panicked about it. I can watch them thrive and not live in fear and second guess every move they make."
"You can't tell anyone. It's part of my agreement of staying out of the papers. There would be people no matter what who would want my head."
"I understand. Just know that you don't need to defend yourself. People here respect for you. You led this faction well before Jeanine and will do long after this. The stress you were under would have been enough to kill someone. I know we haven't always been civil around each other, but I know I do trust you with my life, and this faction."
"Are we becoming friends Four?" I smirk at him from across my desk.
"You little shit."
"I don't think you can call me little." Four shrugs at me, and I leer at his face.
Before either of us can respond, there is a knock on my door and Tris pokes her head through. "Oh, good you are both here. I just passed Zeke in the hallway, he says they are heading to Tori's apartment, and she will drop Hannah off for her lunch. You're going to need to pick up lunch before they get there. I know Max is also on the hunt for you both. He heard about what happened in the training room and he wants to check in with you."
"Thanks, we will head to him now." Four says as he stands from his chair, heading over to Tris, placing a hand on her waist. "I will see you at lunch. You coming, Eric?" He questions as I haven't moved from my chair.
I rise from my seat and follow them out. Already dreading the conversation to come.