Chapter 2

XXX

I exited the supply room and move to join the group of initiates in my class. If anyone had seen Eric enter or exit, it doesn't register in their thoughts.

All of the initiates have made it off the roof and are milling around. Training is about to commence.

"Dauntless-born, go with Lauren and Zeke, transfers stay with me and Tris." Four yells out to the crowd.

The Dauntless- born follow Lauren and Zeke obediently. The transfers look at them peeling off and start to feel anxious. Their anxiety is nauseating. They made their choice, they shouldn't be this jumpy at every new development.

"My name's Four. Most of the time I work in Intelligence, but during your training, I'll be your instructor with Tris." He says as he motions to the woman standing near him.

From the look he gives her as he introduces her, I can tell there is a familiarity between them, more than just working together. The look she gives him in return confirms it.

"We'll start by showing you around Dauntless." She says and they start to leave in the opposite direction from where Lauren took her initiates.

I follow along towards the back, but I don't listen to what they say they show us around. It's what everyone is not saying that is more useful, and I carefully cataloging what I hear.

It's different than Erudite. Erudite had been whispers and silent machinations schooled behind pretense. Every movement, every gesture, every stand of hair out of place gave someone a piece of information. Something they would use against you, like a viper, when the moment was right.

But in Dauntless, everything and everyone echoes. Undulating physical power, and a sea of voices and thoughts, colliding and bouncing off everything and everyone. Looks were still judged here, but it was less about appearance and more about strength. The weak would not survive.

XXX

After the quick tour from Four and Tris, they leave us in what would be our home for the next ten weeks. A dormitory style hall with no privacy. Dauntless saw no need for privacy. Like the ancient Spartans, they wanted us to be comfortable in our skin, and they wanted to encourage a brother and sisterhood among its warriors.

Everyone moves to claim a bed; stake their territory. I take one of the lower bunks on the side of the room, where I can see every point of egress.

As my back is turned, and I examine the training clothes left for us, I feel them; feel hands of blue approach and try to come at my sideways.

"Well, if it isn't the biggest nose of the bunch." My skin prickles at the sound of his voice. Chad Volger had been a constant source of annoyance in my life since we could walk. He thought he was meant for great things, planned to become very important. When he tried to become my friend to get into Jeanine's good graces, he was abruptly shot down. And when I continued to best him and remain at the top of our class, it wounded his ego even more.

He then made it his mission to try and torment me any chance he could. But he never got the validation or satisfaction from me he so desperately craved.

I don't bother to turn around, or to stop what I am doing. My thought bounces inside my head. "They think of me as nothing but a nose."

"What, being head bitch of Erudite wasn't enough?" He says as he tries to incite a reaction. His idiot friends laugh at his remark. I only roll my eyes and continue arranging my things on my bed.

My silence infuriates him and I hear his intention before his hand coils around my arm. His fingers don't even touch my skin as I sidestep and whirl to face him. His surprise registers as his pupils dilate slightly. He recovers quickly, in front of his friends.

"Face it Matthews, you're not cut out for life in Dauntless. But I'm sure if you ask mommy nice enough she'll let you go home."

"Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance." I think to myself. The first stage of imitation would be physical assessment. The best thing for me to do is to not give them anything to make them think I will succeed. Better they find out too late.

"It's Tam." I say somewhat quietly.

He steps closer to me and sneers. "You can pick any name you want, you'll never be anything but Jeanine Matthews' little nose."

I can tell he wants me to say something. He wants me to lash out, to give him that validation. But I've endured much worse than Volger's taunts.

He doesn't get the chance to say anything else as Four and Tris announce it's time for lunch. Volger stands there for another minute, looking me up and down before turning and telling his friends to go. I watch as he walks towards the door everyone is leaving from, and although he doesn't see it, my eyes narrow at the back of his head.

It's the closest he's ever gotten to eliciting a reaction from me.

XXX

The lunch hall is crowded, almost too crowded. It's clanging plates and cutlery, it's talking, laughing, and it's a mental barrage of thoughts from all directions.

I'm not entirely hungry, but follow the flow of people and grab an apple, a few pieces of chicken, and something to drink before finding a table off to the side to sit by myself. I already know I won't be welcome at any of the tables with the other initiates. That's fine, I am used to being alone.

But to my small surprise, I don't stay alone for long. Tris sits down opposite me as I nibble on my food.

"Didn't see anything you like?" She asks cheerfully.

I can tell she saw what happened earlier with Volger. Her time in Dauntless has made her observant. But coming to see how I was doing showed her Abnegation roots.

"I'm not that hungry." I say quietly.

"Nervous?" She asks.

I shake my head in the negative.

"You should try and eat. You're going to need everything you can during training. And besides, Dauntless has cake." She says as she slides her piece of chocolate cake towards me.

It's a small gesture, but it's genuine and kind. "Thank you." I say as I take slide the cake closer to my plate. She smiles at my action, but it quickly falls from her face and her eyes darken at the person I can feel standing behind me.

"I know Four didn't exactly follow the rules when he trained you Tris, but you can't play favorites on day one." Eric's voice grumbles.

Tris wants to roll her eyes, but she also knows better. She rises from her seat with a curt nod towards Eric, before giving me another small smile. "We'll meet in the Pit in about twenty minutes River." She says before throwing another glare at Eric and then turning to leave.

Eric sits down beside me and inspects the plate in front of me. "Is that really all you're eating?"

While Tris refrained from rolling her eyes, I do not.

He notices. "Careful. I am still a Leader here." He says low and menacing. I want to laugh.

I turn my body to face him. "You are, but you'll always be Eric to me."

I can tell that people put him on a pedestal here. It had been the same in Erudite. Both Simon and Eric were top of their class, smart, tactful, ambitious. But Simon was kind, where Eric was threatening. He had carried that with him to Dauntless.

He leans in close to me now. His body language screams superiority to anyone who would be watching, which they were. Eric was a force to be feared in Dauntless, and where he went, people took note.

"Find me later. Before dinner." He says quietly as he gets up from the table.

I quirk an eyebrow at him, and I see the corner of his lip threaten to pull into a half smile. It's a challenge. He also knows I won't back down from a challenge from him. I hadn't when we were children and I wouldn't now.

He doesn't say anything else as he leaves, and neither do I.

XXX

"There are two stages of training." Four says to the group of us in the Pit later. "The first is physical. Push your bodies to the breaking point and you'll master the methods of combat. The second is mental. Again, breaking point. You'll face your worst fears and conquer them unless they get you first."

Four is trying to come off as menacing, but the best he gets comes off as indifference. He's clearly done this before, and it feels a bit practiced; like it's an act and the opposite of who he is as a person.

Tris continues where Four had left off. "You'll be trained separately from the Dauntless-born, but you'll be ranked together. After initiations, rankings will determine what jobs you move into. Leadership, guarding the fence, or keeping the Factionless from killing each other."

Four chimes in again here. "The rankings will also determine who gets cut."

"Cut?" One of the Candor transfers asks.

Tris grimaces as she explains. "At the end of each stage of training, the lowest-ranking Initiates will be leaving us." You can tell she is uncomfortable with it.

"To do what?" Another Candor asks.

"There's no going home to your families, so you'd live factionless." Four replies quickly. He also seems very uncomfortable.

"Why didn't we know that?" One of the Erudite asks.

"It's a new rule." Four glares as the crowd. It's very apparent he wants this line of questioning to be over.

"So it begins." I think to myself. I am sure there would be other 'new rules' springing up over the next ten weeks. One's she wants Dauntless to enforce. One's meant to try and get me back to Erudite. Being factionless, there are no rules. No one checking on you, no guard rails. The factionless were Jeanine Matthews favorite play thing.

"We'll start with something fun for the rest of today. This will be the only time you get to practice throwing knives, so make it count." Tris says as she motions to the tables behind her and the the targets a good 10 meters in front of them.

XXX

I take my time listening to what Four and Tris explain in their demonstration. Cataloguing ever aspect on proper form, on breath control, when to release to get the right amount of spin on the blade. It wasn't practical, throwing knives. Gun would always be better. But they are using it as a test to see how well we listen. My first attempt isn't perfect… but it wasn't meant to be. It would have been suspicious if it was.

I take my time throwing, hoping my speed comes off as nerves rather than procrastination. While everyone else has thrown about ten blades, I have thrown about five. But they are all in the target. Tris comes by about twenty minutes into throwing to see how I am doing.

I release the blade and it hits the ring just outside the bullseye.

"You're a natural." She says.

I shrug. "You explained it well."

I pick up another blade and ready my stance to throw. I feel her critiquing me, and feel her about to reach out to move my elbow slightly. I let her, and when I release the blade it hits the bullseye.

She nods in approval, mentally cataloging it to score me later. "You'll do well if you keep up like this."

"Thanks." I say quietly.

She frowns slightly. "They giving you trouble already?" She asks quietly.

I shrug again and I pick up a blade and play with it in my hand, projecting nervous energy, which is what she would expect.

"I saw some of the guys cornering you in the dorm. You can talk to me about it if you want." She says casually.

I throw her a small smile, but still shrug. "It's fine."

She doesn't look so sure, but she doesn't say anything. Tris gives me one last small nod before she moves on to the next group of transfers to watch them.

XXX

We practice with knives for the rest of the day. A few of the other transfers had done well; two of the Amity transfers and one of the Erudite.

Four and Tris dismiss us for dinner and let us know that training will start at 9am sharp tomorrow. Everyone makes a mad dash back towards the cafeteria, but I linger to the end and start gathering up the throwing knives. I also pocket one of them for later, just in case. There are at least 200 knives scattered about, so there is no way Four to Tris will notice.

"You don't have to do that River." Four says with a small smile as I bring them over to where they are storing them.

"I don't mind." I say with a shrug. "See you tomorrow," I say as I turn and leave.

I catch a few thoughts and words spoken between them as I leave the Pit. Concern, Tris telling Four what she saw in the dorm, but also satisfactory remarks on my natural skill.

It puts me at ease slightly, knowing I hadn't given anything away. It would be harder the further we got into training, especially when we got to the fights.

I keep walking like I am going back to the cafeteria, but I allow my mind to start exploring… reaching out, listening to the whispers that flow around me.

I catch a few thoughts that give me a general idea of where to go as I walk by a cluster of Dauntless members. It gives me enough of an idea of where to head next.

I detour just before the doors of the cafeteria and duck around a corner before moving to a stairwell. I go up three flights of stairs before exiting and going down a corridor.

I walk past another group who are so wrapped up in their own conversations they don't notice the initiate right behind them. That's when I find the trail of thoughts I am looking for, and I peel off from the group in front of me and take another turn. I get to the end of the corridor and enter another stairwell.

Two more flights of stairs and I exit onto the residence floor. Five doors down on the left I am at the door I want.

I take a breath before I knock softly on the door. I feel him striding to the door from the other side and Eric opens it a few seconds later.

He doesn't say anything, but motions for me to come inside. I do so and quietly close the door behind me.

XXX

AN: Thank you to everyone who is reading and reviewing so far. I am really liking where we are headed with this Divergent/Firefly crossover, and I can't wait to see what you all think of the later chapters when we start to see some familiar faces. ;)