Hi! It's been a while! During lockdown number 2 I was going through my google docs account and found this so boredom got the best of me I guess. It is nice to be back however many years later. I have been obsessed with EricxOCs for years so this was really fun for me I hope you like it. This kind of takes place at the start of insurgent and I'm rewriting the war. Everyone is 18 on their choosing day and I have also posted this on Wattpad under the same username :)
A war has broken out in the city.
The papers say a group of factionless have attacked Abnegation, our governing faction, to attempt to gain power in the city but there are whispers of mind control being used on Dauntless members. Personally, I think both sound ridiculous but Jeanine, the Erudite leader, has taken the role of head counsellor making her faction the new head of government. Which would mean she had a motive for mind control and she would definitely be smart enough to pull that off. All this jeopardises the balance the different factions provided. I think everyone is sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for Candor, the faction of justice, to take aside. I'm stuck here, in amity my home faction merely watching it all unfold on the front page of the newspaper.
Abnegation has been reduced to ruins - hundreds dead - men, women and children. And it doesn't really matter who did it at the end of the day what matters is all these innocent people have had their lives taken from them for someone else's cause.
Joanna, our adviser, said that we'll be safe here in Amity. That since we're the faction of peace nobody will disturb us. I can't understand that if all Abnegation did was help those in need and now their streets are littered with cold bodies.
There are rumours that the dauntless soldiers are going to come here soon to help protect us from the factionless. I feel guilty that I am almost excited to meet more dauntless. My sister transferred there six years ago and ever since I have decided that is where I am supposed to be too. I think about her every day if she's changed, what her life is like and now if she is safe in erudite. Maybe if they ask for more soldiers, I can volunteer and prove myself to be brave. I might not even get a chance to ever move factions next year, who knows what the result of this war is going to be. This could be the end of our city and as far as we know the end of human life.
Most of the people here are trying to pretend the war in the city isn't happening. Amity is totally against conflict, and we certainly aren't prepared for a battle.
I'm almost finished my breakfast shift in the canteen when more abnegation refugees arrive. Around a dozen have been arriving every day. They keep to themselves and barely leave the dorms we have provided for them. It must be so devastating to be used, have your life wrecked like this for the sake of other people's politics and not even have the simple comfort of your own home.
After the attacks, we sent volunteers to recover children in the faction that became a war zone. There were babies abandoned in cots, toddlers hidden in cupboards and under beds. The volunteers found around 40 children still alive all under age 10. I can't imagine having to shift through the rubble trying to listen for their cries. They have all found foster homes here in Amity but nobody's absolutely sure what will happen after the war although I imagine that they'll be welcome here as long as they want.
I can't help feeling a pang of jealousy. After my parents passed there were no volunteers to take me yet everyone is willing to take in children of another faction. My sister raised me from when I was six and she was thirteen and then she left on her choosing day and I have been alone ever since.
I watch as a new arrival runs to the children's table and hugs two young boys. I presume in my head that it must be their mother and I can't imagine the pain she's gone through in the last few days. My heart feels full thinking of the happiness she must feel right now from finding her sons.
I'm mindlessly refilling the breadbaskets around the tables when there's a tug on my skirt.
"Excuse me Miss but do you know maybe when my mum is coming." It's a young girl around six years and even though she's dressed in Amity colours I can tell she is from Abnegation from the way she looks at the ground shyly. My heart sinks at her question, and I remember asking the same thing when I was her age.
"What's your name, honey?" I bend my knees, so I can talk to her face to face. Her big sad eyes look up me.
"Fiona Wilson"
"Well Fiona, sometimes mums go on top-secret missions to help people and right now we need even more mums than ever." I don't want to lie, but I am trying my best to be kind.
"When will she come back though" her lips pout at her question and I silently curse her for having to ask me out of all people about her mum. She looks so innocent dressed in Amity clothing and her long blonde hair framing her face. Sometimes I think abnegation children look old when they wear their modest grey clothing, almost as if they don't get a chance to just be kids.
"We don't know. It's top secret. But only the nicest mums that love their children very, very much are allowed to go. I am sure she is missing you right now."
"Mrs Yu said -"
"Fiona there you are!" Speak of the devil. Mrs Yu isn't exactly my biggest fan. "How are you Perlita? I thought your shift didn't end until half-past ten?"My new pal hides behind Mrs Yu's plump legs once she stops in front of me. I heard she had fostered a few children. Lord knows she has space in that big house.
"Yes, Mrs Yu I was just refilling the baskets. I'm actually meeting Oak after I'm done here."Oak is her son who I have a slightly complicated friendship with at the moment. But if life was how Mrs Yu wanted it, I would have never met her son, preferably never been born either.
"Have you had any time to think over what he has asked? You might want to act fast" She acts so sickly sweet to my face I know inside she is full of rage, not that she will ever show it. The prospect of her one day being my mother in law is very top of my list of why I cannot say yes to his question.
"Yes well, Oak and I are still discussing that particular matter as I am sure you know." She has never thought I was good enough for her son and most of the time I have to agree. He is so caring and delicate towards everyone, the poster boy for Amity, whereas I am so rough and gloomy I have no clue what he sees in me.
"Yes well, I'll see you later Perlita. Maybe you should have some of the bread you're dishing out. It will help you think a bit clearer." Since war broke out people have been wolfing down the bread at any chance they get. Soon we're going to run out of peace serum and I doubt Erudite has a shipment on its way. The factions need to all lean on each other to survive. Amity and Erudite have always worked closely together to develop agriculture science. It's almost interesting in a way how erudite has an influence on every single faction because of their technology and knowledge.
Just as I am cleaning up the outside tables for breakfast finishing, I notice a group of people walking in my direction dressed in an array of black and grey. Joanna walks to meet them as if she knew they were on their way and everyone follows from behind to no doubt get the latest updates on the war.
The first face I recognise is Marcus Eaton, the Abnegation leader. He's been overthrown by Jeanine and rumoured to be dead. It's like seeing a ghost. They must have saved him from the fighting. Walking next to him is three men and one woman. They look like they've been through hell. In my mind they were going to show up here with their heads high, muscles bulging, covered in tattoos and ready to save the world. Instead, they have bleeding wounds and tears down their cheeks. They look exhausted and dirty like they are ready to give up. I feel almost disappointed. Only two have tattoos I am guessing they are the dauntless ones although another is dressed in all black. The most shocking is one man dressed in blue, an erudite, although he is carrying a gun alongside the dauntless it looks like he has betrayed his faction.
I try my best to listen in without seeming too noisy. The factionless story has been completely fabricated, Jeanine is in fact behind it all. Joanna speaks to them like she knew all of this too but I don't understand how. In Amity we don't have a leader system like the rest of the factions we vote on everything together after discussing it and Joanna acts as sort of an official voice.
Soon I'm meeting Oak by the kitchen exit.
"Hello, beautiful." He greets me with his signature smile. This boy was born to be Amity. I can smell his soap; the faint smell of apples is one of the most comforting things I've ever smelt and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy whenever he's near. "Did you see? There's Dauntless here! They might know where Miriana is!"I can feel my smile get wider as I think of my sister but his excitement doesn't match mine.
"I don't think we should talk of the war right now, it's all very disruptive. Save it for the meeting tomorrow." I feel bad for mentioning it now. I lower my excitement down and try to match his level of calmness. He always seems to project this mighty aura of peace and tranquillity.
Our hands interlock and we begin to walk in silence down the dirt paths. Hand holding and hugging are as far as we are allowed in Amity until after we are wed and Oak always being the perfect Amity he is, he's very strict on this rule.
I notice his face falls, even more, when he spots I'm still not wearing the ring he gave me two days ago for my seventh birthday.
"How was your morning? I heard you have started making plans for your house." It's part of Amity intimation for the boys; they build or renovate a house for their future family. Oak is a year older than me and currently gaining his true place in the faction, not that he has to try very hard to fit in. "It's our house Perlita" My attempt to distract from the touchy subject has completely backfired and I'm mentally kicking myself for the mistake. It's expected for Amity girls to find a husband a year after their choosing ceremony, the sooner the better. Once we're wed, we devote our lives to our husbands and future children.
He stops walking and moves our entwined hands to rest atop his heart. I can feel each breath with the rise and fall of his chest as his eyes plead me to listen.
"Marry me. I'm asking you again. Marry me. After you choose next year, we'll have a big ceremony and move into the house I will build for us. We can start a family, as big or as small as you want. You'll never have to work a day in your life ever again. You would be the happiest girl in Amity. Please just slide the ring on and be my wife. I love you, Perlita." Oaks sensitive nature never fails to make me swoon, the way his brows scrunch softly and his lips pout just melt me. I imagine us standing together at a bay window cooing over a baby I hold in my arms. I imagine it with his jet-black hair and my olive skin. He would make an excellent husband but it just isn't the life I want.
"I'm transferring. Everyone knows I'm transferring." My voice sounds tough, but my eyes are pleading with him to just drop it and leave it for another day. I hate playing the villain and saying no but I'm not ready to make this decision, especially with everything going on in the city. Nobody is sure of their future right now.
"To what? Dauntless is split in half. It's not a faction anymore it's just a hole in the ground. We have so much peace and joy here and you want to trade it for guns and armour." He doesn't understand how anybody couldn't like living in Amity. To him this is paradise but the idea of settling and not seeking an adventure makes my skin crawl.
The look in Oak's sensitive eyes becomes too much to look at and I need to turn away or am afraid I might start crying. "Everyone here hates me! I know you love me, and you think that marrying into a respected family like yours is going to stop the dirty looks and the whispers but I can promise it's not." My parents betrayed the fraction, and no one has ever forgotten. Everyone in the city thinks Amity is the nicest place in the world but they never forgive or understand somebody turning their back on peace.
"And I can promise you that my love is stronger than any hate. What your parents did was cruel to you and your sister but you cannot leave your home just because of what other people think. You must rise above it."But it's harder than it sounds and I'm exhausted. I don't want to put any effort into making a life here. I just want to walk away from it. I wish he could see he deserves so much better than me.
"Why are we talking about this now? I have almost a year to make my final decision. I care about you Oak and want to be with you but I have to put myself first even if it means breaking my own heart."
"Dove June's family has been speaking to my family and they want us to wed" Images of Dove in a pretty white dress burn into my eyes. Her standing under an arch with Oak, declaring their everlasting love. Their children will be gorgeous, and I'm sure they'll have many, all Dove talks of is becoming a mother.
"And do you?" My voice comes out as a whisper and I'm surprised he hears me at all.
"Of course not Perlita. Haven't you been listening to a word I've just said? If you were to spill your blood over the earth next choosing then I'd tell them the deal is off. But if you're not staying and I can't pretend you are.
His sweet almond eyes are tinted with rage and sadness and I feel like the devil for making him feel this way. I do care about him.
"I know I don't deserve you I care about you so much, Oak. You're my best friend, why can't we just keep it like that? You are complicating everything" I feel as though I'm a young girl again, all alone with no family and having to fend for myself.
He drops my hands from him as if he is separating our bound "If you aren't wearing the ring by Sunday morning then Mother is accepting Newton's offer. I have always loved you, and promise that I always will. Please think about it" Five days to decide my future and who knows how much is going to change due to this war. But if the war does change things and there is no longer a dauntless I will just be settling and not finding my own way as I have always wished.
"I know. I'm sorry."As much as I want to run to my dorm and to grab the ring and then slam it on my finger just to make him happy, I can't betray myself like that. This is not where I belong.
I hate making him my second choice and hate that he knows he's my second choice and I hate that I'm his first choice.
I hear the whispers around town. I'm delirious to turn him down. I don't deserve his love. I have him wrapped around my finger, I abuse him. All these girls giggle at my situation and don't recognize the hurt I am going through. I'm sick of it. I can't help but feel it'll just get worse if I stay.
"Your shift in the greenhouse is about to start. I'll see you for dinner." He walks away without looking back, and I'm left glued to my spot for a good twenty minutes. There's a hole in my chest, and I'm struggling to breathe but know that this is the right decision for both of us, even if it is crushing me.
A/N
So I've been playing about with this the last few years, just writing a chapter here and then when I was bored or couldn't sleep. I realised recently that the fanfic I wrote when I was about 14 was still getting a lot of traffic and there is maybe still a divergent following here? If an EricxOC fic is something you'd be interested in then please follow/favourite/review/interact in any way! It would be greatly appreciated!