I jumped onto the train before Four or Eric could say anything to the transfers. Soon I was surrounded by everyone else as the train shuddered before hitting full speed. I watched as my brother shot his arm out of the door and came back with Tris. I thought Eric cut her after he fight with Peter. I watched from afar as her friends, Will, Al and Christina walked up to her.

"Hey,"

"What are you doing here?" she got bombarded with questions and I saw Eric make his way over to the group scowl on his face. I placed a hand on his shoulder gently pleading with my eyes to go easy on her. He shook me off and finished the walk over to them.

"I just figured that I had to make it." She shrugged.

"Who let you out?" I heard Eric's gruff voice break the silence of the compartment.

"I did." Tris seemed to be slightly nervous but she also did seem to show too much of it. I know how terrifying it can be to stand up to Eric. I watched ready to intervene if need be.

"You did?" he paused and looked around at everyone, stopping for slightly longer on me. "Okay. He pursed his lips and walked back over to me. He pulls a gun out of one of the black bags at our feet before turning to the initiates again.

"The game is simple, it's just like capture the flag." Four states as he too grabs a gun.

"Weapon of choice." Eric held one up for everyone to see.

"You call that a gun?" Molly scoffs as she turns to peter who has his arms crossed and is look directly at me. Eric flips the gun down before shooting molly in the leg. With a grunt she falls on her ass like a sack of shit. I hide my giggle behind my hand but Eric still hears it and looks up at me. He reaches down to pull it out of her leg and holds it up for everyone to see.

"Neuro-stim dart, simulates the pain of a real gunshot wound, only last's a couple of minutes. Two teams." I zoned out from listening to him I already knew I was on his team, I was his co-captain so he couldn't just ditch me.

"Okay my team time to jump!" Eric yelled over the roaring of the train. I looked around as Eric's team get ready to jump. I noticed they had split Myra and Edward up. But we also had peter, Molly and Al. I wasn't too worried about any of them, although Peter does seem to be a little bit more intense than the rest of the transfers. Once we jumped off and regrouped, Eric turned to our group.

"Okay strategies. Amaya and I can't help it's all on you guys." He folded his arms and watched as everyone talked over each other.

Peter had the bright idea to put the flag up high and Molly had the idea to have two people guarding the flag while the rest of us hide ready for an ambush. I crouched with my back against Eric's as we heard gunshots gong off and rushed footsteps pass us. Eric leapt up and used the knocked down wall as a barricade of sorts as I covered his back in case someone thought it would be funny to get him from behind like the cowards they are. I see the grass rustling in the not too far distance and shoot my gun where I saw it. Someone did have the audacity to go after Eric while he was busy defending our flag but also trying his hardest to get Tobias with one of the bullets. I heard a loud shout and I raced over to find the fallen initiate was Drew.

"You really thought it would be a wise move to sneak up on Eric like that?" I chuckled at him as he continued to scream in pain. I pulled the dart out of his shoulder and shot another two into him for good measure and walking away. As I got closer I could see that Eric had a sour look on his face and I understood why when I saw Tris and Christina running away with our flag between them. I looped my arm with his.

"Who's over there?" Eric asked nodding his head over in the direction of Drew.

"Drew thought he would be shifty and sneak up on you while you were preoccupied, but I had your back." He nodded at me and unlooped our arms sliding his around my shoulders pulling me close to him. He shot three times in the direction of Drew and I heard a scream in pain before Eric chuckled and walked off with me tucked under his arm. The rest of our team walked along behind us as we made our way back to the train.

"You going to do the zip line tonight?" Eric asked me once we were on the train back to the compound.

"Hmmm… don't know, I was thinking about it but I was also thinking about grabbing a book and reading by my fire now that I won't be able to get back to sleep." He held his hand up to his chin as if he was thinking.

"The book and fire does sound much better than the freezing cold of the wind blowing through your hair. Although you and I both know how much you love zip lining." I laughed along with him and jabbed him in the ribs as we readied to jump back on to the roof of the compound. Eric and I parted once we got to my apartment. I knew I wouldn't sleep it was already 6 and I would have to be up at 7 for knife throwing for the last day of stage one. So I did just as I told Eric I would. I walked into my bathroom and removed my contacts before I changed into my soft comfy pyjama pants and fluffy socks. I picked up my favourite book and made myself comfy in my oversized armchair. Not even 5 minutes after I sat down there was a quiet knock on my door. I walked over to check it out. Eric stood there with a book in his hands and his glasses perched in the bridge of his nose. I silently let him in and we made ourselves comfy in front of my fire. It felt nice to do this with Eric. He really was just a big softy and still and Erudite at heart, as much as he would deny it until the day he died.

Once 7am rolled around I stood up to stretch out my limbs after forgetting to stretch before curling up on the chair. I heard bones pop in places I didn't even know I had as I walked into my kitchen.

"Eric! Coffee?" I asked as I filled the kettle and chucked it on to boil.

"Please." I head pages ruffle as he folded the corner of the page and put his book down and came over to me.

"So do you just always wear contacts or do you just need glasses for reading?" I asked him as I got out two mugs and started to divide out the coffee and sugar.

"Just reading. At a young age in Erudite they give you a pair of glasses. Usually by the time you get to your choosing ceremony you need them or your eyes have just adjusted to it by then." He shrugged and plopped down on one of the bar stools I have at the counter. I watched as he carefully took his glasses off and put them to the side of the bench as the kettle boiled and I poured our mugs. I handed him ne and the milk and watched as he finished making his coffee. We didn't need to be in the training room until at least 8:30 so it was nice to not be on a tight schedule and being able to spend a little bit of time with Eric. We enjoyed our coffee in silence as the morning sun rose and crept into the big window I had facing the east of the compound. Being on the top most floor of the compound had its perks. I knew Eric ha a window similar to mine being on the top floor also.

Eric and I met back up in the training room as the initiates started to practice with throwing knives. Beats me why they were only just starting on the last day or stage one, but whatever Tobias was running training so I wasn't about to question him.

Eric P.O.V

This morning had been nice, we didn't need to say anything to each other but yet somehow I had felt closer to her in those couple of hours than I had since she had been here. She also makes some pretty amazing coffee but we won't go into that or tell anyone about that either.

I watched over training with Amaya as the initiates threw knives at a target. The target wasn't even moving but yet the big brute of an ex-Candor just couldn't seem to land a single one. I can still remember the day he asked her out and my blood boiled.

"Well that was pathetic." I said as I stood behind him my hands behind my back.

"It slipped." He told me not meeting my eyes.

"Well go get it!" the stiff beside him jumped slightly at my voice. Good.

"What? While their throwing?" he asked standing up a little bit straighter but I could still see in his eyes he was afraid. Afraid of me and afraid of being factionless if he so much as uttered the wrong words to me.

"Are you afraid?" I sneered at him straightening my shoulders to intimidate him further. I noticed Amaya out of the corner of my eye help that Erudite transfer with the way he held his knife and that fuelled me even further.

"Of getting stabbed by an airborne knife? Yeah."

"Everybody stop!" I watched as his shoulders relaxed slightly and everyone stopped throwing. "Stand in front of the target. Four, give me a hand here." I watched as Al walked over to the target and Four sighed before coming over as well. Just for good measure I threw the knife I held in my hand at the target before Al was able to reach it. He held his breath and stiffened up. Maybe he was supposed to be a stiff not a Dauntless.

"You're going to stand there while he throws those knives and if I see you flinch your out." My voice was quiet and I could tell everyone in the training room thought that was even worse than when I yelled. "One thing you will learn here is that orders are not optional." By this time Four had gotten his knives ready and had stood at the line waiting for me to move out of the way for him. I gave Al one last threatening look before moving out of the way.

Tris ended up taking his place because she stood up to me and Al had already pushed my buttons enough for the rest of the year, so I made her stand in for him as Four threw knives at her. I expected him to cut her just not as much as he did but I just wanted someone to get cut.

I was beyond pissed off as I stomped out of the training room at lunch, after everything this morning Amaya still ended up helping Al work on his knife throwing skills, he stood far too close to her for my liking and I'm pretty sure I may have growled at him frightening a couple of initiates in the process. I met Amaya in the training room after lunch where she had been writing up the scoreboard for the first stage of initiation. They were finished stage one now and moving on to two in a week.

Visiting day was the next day and I knew my parents wouldn't come see me, it was always I go see them or I would never see them. Visiting day had always been a thing even for the transfers from years ago. A part of me had hoped that Amaya and Four's father wouldn't grace us with his presence I was too pissed off not to do anything too rash to him. And I had promised Amaya last year that I wouldn't do anything if he showed up. He hadn't shown his face last year and I was hoping this year would be the same. I had never even seen him since mine and Four's initiation 2 years ago. I had only met Marcus Eaton purely because of the fact that I was Dauntless leader and he was abnegations leader. Not much of a fucking leader if you ask me. Beating up his own children and then raping his only daughter. I shivered at the thought and I felt a small hand wrap its way around my bicep.

I turned to face Amaya and placed my rough hand on her cheek, I saw in her eyes all of the pain and the hurt she had gone through in her life, I knew that had never gone away because for as long as I had known her it had always been there. Most days she was able to hide it away but I still saw glimmers every now and then, I still saw the way she would flinch if a man got too close to her or even made to move his arm. I knew this women in front of me was brave, she had gone through a hell of a lot in her short life and she still stood here in front of me with determination written all over her face. This women right here was Dauntless material. And not just Dauntless material but a Dauntless leader. She deserved this and I knew I had to make sure that Max knew that she didn't need any more training from me. She knew all of the basics and everything else was just a cake walk to her. I felt a sudden urge to kiss her but held back as I looked at the scoreboard.

1. Edward

2. Peter

3. Will

4. Christina

5. Molly

6. Tris

7. Drew

8. Al

9. Myra

The transfers all gathered around the scoreboard and us. We had jumped apart as we heard the doors open.

"Cuts will come tomorrow." I yelled over the over excited initiates, which quietened them right down. "Get some sleep."