Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Twilight or Divergent. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer and Veronica Roth.

Writer's note: Thank you Goddess, delia, Roxhall, Navywife, and Hufflepuff for your reviews! I'm excited for this story. So much will happen, and we're still a ways off until the end. Hope everyone is enjoying their day! So, here's another chapter as a treat! I want to say a special thanks to my beta, that catches my mistakes, so all of you guys can enjoy my stories. She's absolutely wonderful. *smiles* As always, I appreciate all of you! Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!

Bella laid down on her cot, closing her eyes. Her side started to throb now, but she ignored it. The sleeping quarters were still empty since people were still having fun. With the way Eric talked, tomorrow was going to be brutal, so she was happy she did cut out early.

After a while she heard movement in the sleeping quarters and she glanced up to see Christina and Will, locked together, making out. "Not alone." Bella called out and Christina and Will pulled apart.

"Sorry." Christina said with a giggle.

"Showers aren't occupied. Go for it." Bella said with a smile and Christina giggled again and tugged Will with her into the showers.

Bella shook her head and then lay her arm over her face and tried to fall asleep. She wavered in and out of consciousness but the footsteps of others and talking, kept her from actually falling asleep.

Tris plopped down on her cot next to Bella. "I drank too much."

Jasper chuckled as he came to lean against the post by their cots. "I warned you."

Bella peaked from under her arm. "We all drank too much."

Jasper raised a brow and smirked. "At least you cut out early. Tris here kept on. Tomorrow is going to suck."

Bella agreed. "Yeah, considering Eric is going to torture us worse because he knows we were out drinking. We did this to ourselves."

"So true." Tris groaned and lay back on her cot.

"Chris and Will are in the showers just in case anyone got any big ideas. Might not want to walk in on sexcapades." Bella said.

Tris glanced over. "At least they're still having fun. Looks like you had some fun." She said and motioned to Bella's neck.

Jasper glanced at Bella, and he saw the marks. "Got too drunk huh? Saw Lukas plant one on you on the dancefloor."

Bella only grunted. "Not those kind of marks Jasper." She lied.

Jasper frowned but didn't say anything. He hadn't noticed the marks earlier, but he had been more worried about her hand. Plus, bruising could form as the day went on. "Well, I'm hitting the hay. Tris, aspirin in the morning." He reminded her and she waved a hand.

There was silence now, light snoring echoed in the room as people passed out from their drinking.

Bella felt herself drift off until finally she was sleeping.

Morning didn't treat any of the recruits well at all. Most woke up with hangovers from the previous night. Bella wasn't as bad as Tris, but she felt the lag in her body.

They were in the pit, waiting for their normal routine.

Eric walked in. "Listen up. Today, we're taking a little trip. Being Dauntless means you conquer fears. We're going to test those fears."

Four walked in. "Ready?"

Eric nodded. "Let's go." He said and he led Bella and the other recruits out of the pit and to the trains. They loaded up as the train was passing. Everyone was quiet as they rose the train. Even Eric and Four had been silent. When it came time to jump, Eric opened the car door and had the recruits jumping first.

Bella was one of the last, having been in the rear of the car with Tris, Jasper, and the others. She went to the edge of the car, and she jumped out, no hesitation, Eric behind her.

Bella got up, dusting herself off and joined the others, Eric behind her. They were in Seattle and at a tall building. It was part of the ruins. She looked around, wondering what sort of fears could be conquered here.

"We're going to the top of this building. It's 76 stories tall. That's almost 950 feet. You're going to jump off this building." Eric said, his arms crossed.

Bella looked up at the building. There was a catch. She knew it was. No one would just leap off a building without any reassurance. But she stayed quiet.

"There's a bonus. You get to run up 76 flights of stairs." Eric said with a smirk.

There were a few groans, but no one spoke out.

They entered the building and Eric opened a door that led to the stairwell. "Get a move on. If you don't make it up these stairs, you'll be out of Dauntless." He said and then people started running up the stairs hurriedly.

Bella waited to take up the rear, she started forward, but Eric stopped her. "What?"

"Your side. Is it okay?"

Bella rolled her eyes and brushed past him and started up the stairs.

When they reached the top, several recruits had thrown up along the way and that included Tris. Bella had a stronger stomach it seemed. Her side burned from climbing up so many flights of stairs, but she tried not to let it show on her face.

Eric and Four seemed to already be up there when they all got there, and Bella realized that they took a faster way and that was mildly irritating.

"Anyone want to volunteer?" Eric asked.

Bella raised her hand and then stepped up. "Let's get this over with." She said, showing no fear at all, but she admitted her heart was pounding hard in her chest.

Eric's steely gaze met hers. "Oh?"

"Why not?"

"Alright." Eric said with a nod. "Get up there… stiff."

Bella narrowed her eyes at Eric, but she got up on the ledge. Being this far up, the air was thinner it seemed. She glanced over the edge, seeing exactly how far up there were. "So, what now?"

Eric faced her and obstructed everyone else's view. He reached out and snapped something to her. It wrapped around her legs and waist. "Here." He said and handed her a vest looking thing. She shrugged it in, and he clipped it together. "Cord. Don't forget to pull it." He said and then he nodded. "Jump."

Tris watched Bella nervously. None of them had ever experienced being up this high, and it was worrisome. She crossed her arms, hugging herself as she watched her best friend get ready to jump, like she did the first day in Dauntless.

Bella looked at the vest. "Two cords?"

Eric nodded. "Yeah. Figure it out." He said. "Need a push?"

"Nope." Bella said and then looked over at her friends who looked extremely nervous, including Tris. She saw Peter and Lukas' faces and they just looked at her with a burning glare. She saluted Tris and then she put her feet on the edge and then spread her arms out like wings and she fell backwards off the building, closing her eyes as she fell. The feeling of the wind rushing past her reminded her of that first day, but this felt different.

Eric was actually shocked she did so, so flawlessly. Usually, it took a recruit a little prep time before they took that leap.

Tris looked over the side and watched her friend fall, gasping.

Bella waited a beat and then pulled the cord. Something deployed and she realized it was a parachute, but it hung up and didn't deploy all the way.

Eric frowned when the chute didn't deploy, and he looked at Four who looked just as scared.

Bella pulled the other cord as the ground approached and suddenly the parachute opened, and she jolted up with the wind, and she grabbed the two ropes that she found could steer her direction and she watched the ground as she came in for a landing. Her feet touched and she ran with the momentum until she came to a stop. She unhooked the harness and slipped out. She ran a hand through her hair. Her heart was still pounding in her chest as she realized how close to death she just got.

Eric was relieved her spare chute opened, but he kept his face impassive. "Alright, next jumper."

Everyone got to jump. After seeing Bella jump, it made it easier for some of the others. Al had a hard time with taking the leap, so Eric pulled him off the building. He screamed the whole way down. Which Peter was quick to tease him about.

Now they were back in Dauntless, after tempting fate and Christina couldn't stood talking about it.

"That was the scariest thing I had to do in my life. But it was exhilarating." Christina said, a wide smile on her face.

Bella smiled a little. "Yeah, it was something else."

"It was terrifying." Will said. "I'm not sure how I didn't scream like Al did.

"Sometimes fear makes you speechless." Jasper said and slapped a hand on Will's back. He looked at Tris. "You went second again. How do you feel?"

Tris shrugged. "I was more afraid when Bella jumped, but after she landed, I felt better. I think I'm not really afraid for myself, but for others." She said with a small smile. "You did excellent."

Jasper smiled, his eyes twinkling a little as he looked at her. "Well, I had great inspiration." His tone was slightly flirtatious, and it made Tris blush a little.

"What happened with your chute?" Will asked Bella.

Bella shrugged. "Not sure. The chute didn't deploy and tangled. I pulled the reserve chute."

"That must have been scary." Christina said with a frown.

Bella sighed. "Maybe. I just thought that well, if it didn't open, then at least it was an epic way to go out."

Tris didn't like that. "But you don't actually want to die. Right?"

"Of course not." Bella said. "I'm going to grab some water. Running up 76 flights of stairs sort of dehydrates you." She said, and patted Tris on the arm, and walked towards the chow hall. Recruits always had access to the water cooler here. It was empty in the recruit chow hall, but that was expected. Most everyone was exhausted from their stair climb and the parachuting.

"You, okay?" Four's voice sounded, and Bella grabbed a water and turned around and looked at him.

"Yeah. Just a 950-foot jump." Bella said and opened the water and took a drink.

"Your chute didn't open."

"Things happen." Bella shrugged.

Four shook his head. "You're brave, but I know that you were scared. Anyone would be."

Bella was silent a moment. "Yeah, I wasn't sure if I was going to live, but I did. Seems like I've been defying death a lot more lately."

Four walked towards her, and stopped right in front of her. "You're different than the other recruits."

"I'm afraid I'm just Bella." She said, tilting her face up to look at him.

Four studied her. "You're… more than that." He nearly whispered and then he leaned in, his lips brushing hers.

Bella was stunned when Four's lips met hers. She wasn't sure what to do, so she froze. When his lips didn't leave hers, her lips parted, and he slipped his tongue inside, slowly tasting her. She reached up, a hand on his arm, holding on to him, to control his movements if something happened next.

Four broke the kiss to look at her. "I'm sorry…" he murmured.

"It's okay." Bella said, and blinked a few times. "I don't understand."

"Me either." Four said and then he kissed her again, pulling her closer to him, his hand coming up and tangling in her hair.

Bella kissed him back, leaning into him, before something snapped in her, and she pulled away. "Um… I'm going to go practice some kicking on the bags. Uh, thanks for checking on me." She said and walked away.

Four stood there, a little mesmerized.

Eric moved away from the entrance to the chow hall the moment he saw Four kiss Bella. He wasn't sure why it angered him so much, but it did. He walked away, going to the pit. He stopped and looked up at the board. Bella was 12th. She was moving up at a steady rate, and would be on top eventually.

"You're still awake. But then again, you didn't run up 76 flights of stairs." Bella called out to Eric.

Eric looked over at her. "You should be in your cot."

"Too wound up to sleep." Bella said and walked over to him. "What's wrong?" She asked when he saw the strange look on his face.

Eric shook his head. "Nothing." He said and started to walk away.

Bella frowned. "What? No snarky comebacks?"

Eric stopped and looked at her. "Snarky?"

"Well, yeah."

Eric nodded. "You could have died today."

"Is that why you're acting strange?" Bella asked and snorted a little. "Come now Eric, keep acting this way, and I'll actually think you care."

Eric was quiet as he looked away. The thing was, he did care, and he was actually afraid of something happening to her. "One of these days, you're going to realize that I'm not the bad guy." He said and walked across the catwalk, towards the training room.

Bella frowned and followed him. "Wait, Eric, you make our lives a living hell, you constantly push Tris entirely way too hard you- "

Eric turned and looked at her, taking a step towards her, his mouth crushing hers. His hands wrapped around her securely, and he just kissed her. It was an angry kiss, one that he didn't intend to be so hard, but it was.

Bella's breath was stolen away from her as Eric, crushed his lips to hers. It took her a moment to recover, and she moved away from him. "Um…" she didn't even formulate any words. She just left, going back to the sleeping quarters.

Eric ran his hands over his face. He was losing it. She was making him lose his focus.

[1 Week Later]

Bella kept from being alone with Eric or Four. She needed to focus, and that meant to stay the course. She was 10th on the board now, and that was good. Tris was trailing at 24th, which was improvement. Al was still in the red too, and he was starting to become antsy.

Today was spar day. They spent the week on weapons training. Knife throwing, and shooting. Bella did excellent in both. Tris, faired okay with knives, but shooting was an issue. Christina and Will did good. They were right neck and neck with each other on the board. 16th and 17th. Today would either push them up or down on the board. Jasper was 8th, and was doing good, for someone from Amity.

Lukas was first, and Peter was fourth. Bella thought about what Lukas said that night at the bazar. She looked over at Tris, who was smiling at Jasper, and he was smiling at her. She suspected they were dating, or something, but Tris hadn't said anything, so she left it alone.

Eric looked at his palm pilot. "Today, there are sparring brackets. This is how it's going to work. Each round will determine a winner, that winner will then be paired against another winner, until there is only one left standing. Whoever is left standing, I'll give you a pass to the bazar for a training day, just because, I'm told that rewards are good incentives to win." He said and looked at Four, who had been a pain in the ass lately. Max was riding both of them hard, and Four didn't like the idea that Max was trying to force Abnegation out of Dauntless. He took personal offense to that. "Here are the brackets." He said and the board shifted, and the brackets were up there now.

Bella was against James again. He had been one of her first spars here at Dauntless, and she had beaten him. He was hot headed, but not like Peter or Lukas.

Tris was pitted against Jessica. Jessica was below Tris on the board, and Bella found it odd that Eric let that pairing pass.

Christina was fighting Jasper, which was a combination that was already hard to pair, since they were friends.

Will got pitted against Al, and that was Eric's sick, twisted way, to keep friendships limited.

"There are two stages. Bracket's 1 and 2 are up." Eric said and everyone shifted.

Bella got up on stage 1 with James, while Jasper got up on the stage with Christina.

The round started and Bella and James went at each other. James was trying to grapple Bella, but her grappling was good. She pulled James down to the mat, wrapping around him like a spider monkey, and her elbow came down in his neck, and he tossed her backwards onto the matted stage and turned and pinned her. He punched her in the face twice, before she slipped from under him, and pulled his feet out from under him, and she trapped his arm in an armbar. He tried to struggle, and then she lifted up on his arm, extending it too far one way, and his elbow snapped at the joint. James growled in pain, which made him lose his focus, and she used the heel of her foot to smash it into his face a few times before he was unconscious.

Bella got up, wiping the blood from her mouth where he busted her lip.

Eric took James name out of the brackets, and two Dauntless born pulled James off the stage. She got down to grab her water, and Tris smiled at her, winking.

Jasper beat Christina, which wasn't so hard for Jasper to do. Christina had told him not to hold back on her because it would just look bad, so he hesitantly beat her. When he got off the stage he frowned at Will. "Sorry man."

"Not your fault." Will said with a smile, and then took the stage with Al, while Tris took the stage with Jessica.

As sparring continued, it was hard to see people get brutalized sometimes, but this was how you became Dauntless. Tris didn't last long after her second bracket, when she got pitted against Peter and lost pretty instantly. Bella took down Will, even though she didn't want to, but they had to play by the rules.

Now Bella was in the top six. She was facing Peter now, while Jasper was facing Lukas.

Peter grinned evilly at Bella, and he got ready. He didn't say anything, which was unusual for him, but Bella didn't comment. When Eric gave the go, Peter lunged at her.

Bella didn't flinch as Peter's fist came at her, she blocked, striking at his chest, hitting him with real power, and the sound of the impact could be heard. He struck out at her again, but he couldn't land a hit on her. His anger was starting to show through, and he was making mistakes now, leaving openings for her to get through. She threw a side kick and knocked him backwards, and she spun, landing another kick, and then again when she hit him with an inside crescent kick to the face and he fell to the mat. Bella stomped down on his face, and it was lights out.

She stretched her arms across her chest as she jumped down off the mat. She glanced over to see Lukas towering over Jasper, and that made her grimace a little.

Lukas looked over at her, and she was caught in his stare. That meant that they would be in the final three.

Lukas fought Uriah next and within a few minutes, Uriah was unconscious.

Now it was time, time to test how far Bella could go. She got up on the stage with Lukas and he stared her down.

"Remember what I said." Lukas said harshly.

Bella just took her stance, glancing briefly at Tris, and then back to Lukas.

Eric crossed his arms, watching the match. He knew that Bella was capable of beating Lukas, so this shouldn't be so hard for her.

Lukas flew at Bella with speed, throwing punches at her that she easily blocked. She continued to block his attacks, and he growled at her, as he fought harder.

Bella thought about the consequences of winning this match, so she took a breath, and she let Lukas slip her guard, and he nailed her in her jaw. She stumbled back a little, but then brought her guard back up. Lukas grabbed for her, and they locked up, and he took some hits at her side, into her ribs.

"Remember what I said." He growled in her ear, and slammed his fist into her ribs again.

The pain radiated in her side, and she closed her eyes just briefly before she opened them again and looked him in the face. They disengaged, and then he threw a few more punches, nailing her in her face, and she went down to the mat. She lay flat, fighting herself to get up and fight more, but she stayed like this. She looked over at Tris, who was watching with horror as Lukas straddled her, and laid into her.

Bella felt the blows shake her consciousness, and finally, she blacked out.