A/N: It's been a while! Between various events that I joined, lack of motivation, and lack of time, this update has been delayed a bit too much. I apologize and once again thank you guys for your patience.

I do hope to hear back from y'all about what you thought about this most recent chapter.

I couldn't stop looking at Will's bunk when I got up in the morning. While getting dressed and brushing my hair out I continued to glance over at the slow rise and fall of his shoulders. He stirred slightly when I unlatched my trunk to fetch my boots and I froze. Will rubbed at his face and rolled onto his stomach.

This was ridiculous, I finally thought to myself. I was working myself into a frenzy over whether or not my friends would judging me for my personal training that happened to involve a guy. Eric wasn't just any guy, but still, the point stood. I tied off my boot laces and grabbed my sweatshirt. I was done trying to guess what I looked like to others.

If they wanted to know where I'd gone this morning, they could ask me at breakfast.

I didn't get inside the gym. Eric leaned against the sliding door, dark circles under his eyes and a pair of metal containers. He flipped one to me and I had to leap forward to keep from dropping it. "Resource Reclamation's been on my ass for water bottle usage by you twerps," he explained.

I nodded sheepishly. More than a few times I'd dropped my finished water bottle in whatever trash chute was closest rather than squishing it and finding the appropriate material recycling bin. My father would have been mortified.

Eric twitched his head down the corridor. "We're going this way today. Corporal Melanie's got your old gym for the next week," he said. After a few silent moments of me walking a few steps behind him he added, "And don't get weird about the water bottle. There's a whole case waiting in gym C for the rest of your cohorts."

"I'm not… why would I be weird about it?" I blurted out. The heat on the tips of my ears wasn't helping my case, but at least it hadn't spread too far on my cheeks. Deflecting to our encounter last night, I channeled my past brashness. "I just feel bad because I'm remembering now that I was supposed to have brought the water today. I gotta step up my game."

He remained a step or two ahead of me, leading us past the yawning doors to the training gyms. I had expected… well actually, I had no expectations for what we were about to do. I suppose that was pretty much the status quo with Eric.

"How was your sim time yesterday?" he asked.

"Fast," I replied. When he tipped his head to look at me, I was already expecting the raised eyebrow.

"How fast?"

I pretended to need a moment to remember the exact time. "Seven thirty-ish," I replied. "Somewhere in that range."

Eric whistled between his teeth. My stomach did a little flip when I spotted the slight smirk on his lips. "That's good, real good for day two. Thought you might have just had a fluke with the fire sim," he said. "What were you up against? I haven't gone through Lauren's briefs yet, which I'm certain is going to come back to bite me in the ass." He grimaced.

"It was an insect thing. Thousands of them," I replied. My arms itched with a phantom sensation.

"Sounds horrible. I don't get the point of those fear checks other than knowing just to know. Real dangers make sense to actually be aware of," Eric commented. It made sense, but I wasn't about to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Lauren had made some decent points about fire awareness being valuable; maybe other fears had value that wasn't quite as obvious. Plus, at the end of the day, being Dauntless was being able to conquer one's fears.

He pushed a small door open, slapping the top of the doorframe as he passed through. It lead to a stairwell that went up at least five stories, though he stopped after the second flight. I would have voiced my thanks, but since we were here to warm up and exercise I kept my mouth shut. Running was one thing. Stair climbing was another.

We stopped next to another heavy steel door. Eric palmed through his pockets - today he was in a jacket rather than his vest. Once the sun came up and burned off the morning mist, he'd be sweating. He swiped a card in front of a detector, this one a different color than the card Lauren and he had used to open the simulation rooms. I squinted as the morning sunlight flooded into the stairwell.

"Where are we going? I thought we would just grab a different gym." My voice trailed off as Eric, rather than answering, started jogging. He didn't hold the door, forcing me to leap through before it snapped shut and locked me in. Caleb would have had a fit about fire safety and locked exterior doors.

Eric's pace was familiar. I caught up with him within the first block. "We did an exercise like this two weeks ago," I said.

"I know," Eric replied. "I made sure Four moved it into his curriculum. Got tired of having to teach geography to the newbies in basic training." We stayed within Dauntless territory this time. Eric rattled off a few intersections and I had to figure out which faction they lay in. Once we got through the major ones I was feeling fairly winded and my side was screaming with a stitch.

I tapped him on the shoulder and he obliged me to slow down to a stop after another half block. "Adams and Wabash," he pressed as I sucked down a healthy drink of water. Of course he wasn't going to stop the quiz just because we'd stopped running. I mimicked Eric's nod to the Candor couple passing by on their way to work. Normal people were starting their days now. The streets wouldn't be empty for much longer.

I wiped my mouth first to give myself an extra moment to think. "That's near the Hub, maybe two blocks off?" I replied. While I had first hated carrying my water bottle, I was thankful to have it. Eric nodded and I took another sip. More water went onto my neck to cool me down but it wasn't enough.

In Abnegation I wouldn't have noticed how someone looked at me, only if they did or didn't. I had kept my eyes to the ground and prayed for invisibility like I'd always been taught. Today, I kept my head up as I dragged my hoodie over my head. I didn't miss the way that Eric stalled out on his next question and his eyes wandered for a moment over my torso. I knew that look, had lived it not too recently out past the fence.

He cleared his throat and looked up at the sky when the moment stretched on and I refused to look away. "Adams and Randolph," Eric grunted. I capped my water bottle and tied my hoodie around my waist.

"You have to be dying in that jacket," I commented. "And those streets don't intersect."

"Wiseass on both accounts," he fired back. "Come on. If you really want me to take off the jacket, you'll have to run faster than you have been. What is this, Junior Levels?"

I went into my third simulation feeling like a hotshot. The first two hadn't been so bad especially once I was out of it. Being under made me feel strange and the situations hadn't been pleasant, but that was the point. I thought that I could easily handle whatever Lauren threw at me. From what I figured, there was a fifty-fifty shot that I would either get the same type of fears being thrown at the group today for day three or still play catch-up and do crowds like Lauren had mentioned last time.

Four proctored my test this time, gesturing for me to come in with two fingers. The hallway wasn't filled with nervous energy today. Marlene slapped me on the back as I passed by her to go in the room.

"Do you want me to help clean anything?" I asked Four. I hovered by the chair rather than sitting down right away. Lauren had made sure everything ended up spic and span in the exam rooms she used, but not everyone followed the codes as strictly.

Four snorted and shook his head. There was a pile of shrink wrapped tools on the computer desk and a box with the simulation serum stacked precariously on top. "Doesn't matter. It's just in case someone screws up and stabs someone with the needle. That almost never happens," he said, laughing at his joke.

I didn't laugh with him, and his smile dropped swiftly. "Lighten up," he grunted, tearing open one of the packages with the leads. I put them on and settled into the chair. It was difficult to get comfortable; the back was too far forward.

"Hey Four?" I started to ask. He stepped over, the syringe already prepped and needle uncapped.

"Just breathe. You'll be fine," he said as he lined up the needle with my neck.

I frowned and opened my mouth to explain. The needle bit my skin and Four shot the serum into my system. "I'm not afraid," I muttered. It was hard to talk when time slowed down like that. My eyes fluttered closed.

When I woke up from the sim this time, I didn't have the same calm and collected attitude. My arms flailed as I continued the pattern of movements that I'd fallen into. Only when I saw lights and a ceiling instead of endless ocean waves did I realize I could stop. "That was different," I sputtered.

Four's attention was on the red timer rather than me. It had stopped just shy of nine minutes. "Not too bad. I'm going to mark this bracket off as unlikely, same as the swarming," he commented.

"Mark what as unlikely?" I asked. The shock from going from completely soaked and nearly drowning to bone dry was surreal. Much like the smoke from the simulated fire, I could have sworn there should have been water dripping from my clothes onto the tile floor. I even brushed my shorts with my hands just to convince myself that, yes, I was still dry.

When Four didn't reply, I asked again, "What are you marking as unlikely?" I still didn't have the full picture on what exactly the fear simulations were checking for. Lauren had only made the comment about how knowing about my lack of aversion to fire was helpful for later placement. And Eric claimed that Dauntless wanted us to know our fears to be able to conquer them while maligning the less "relevant" ones like insects. So did it matter to know everything or not?

"We can't test for everything, so things get categorized. Some fears have multiple blocks they belong to; you breezed through fire and drowning, so continuing to test you on other elements is pretty unlikely to show anything relevant. Though…" Four trailed off again. He was mesmerized by something on the screen. He'd turned it so that I couldn't see it, though, so I could only guess.

Maybe I'd grown complicit in assuming my Divergence wasn't going to show up on these sims. "Though?" I pressed again. I could either keep ignoring that nagging worry by backing away from asking questions or I could get answers.

Four eyed me from behind the monitor. "Your first test with the fire was rather short. Did Lauren comment on that?" His voice took on a new edge of tension.

"Just that it's useful to know long-term," I replied easily. I might have thrown him because Four blinked quickly and he seemed to lose what his next line of questioning would be.

"Fine," he said. "Then… Alright so…" He floundered but his eyes refused to leave mine. I felt pinned like a slide under a microscope. The room felt cold.

Someone outside laughed loudly. I heard Lauren's muffled voice calling the next person into her exam room. I was thankful for how it helped to break the tension enough for me to ask, "Should I just go?"

Four moved the monitor against the wall, facing it so that I couldn't see the screen. "Before you do, I need to ask you something," he insisted.

I gritted my teeth and shoved my fists into my pockets to keep from clenching and unclenching. "Go for it," I said.

"Why do you think that you're sailing ahead of the others, time-wise?" He was going straight for the jugular, right away. It took a massive amount of self control to not react.

How would any of my other initiates react to that question? I rocked to one foot and lifted my shoulder. "Natural talent? You didn't question why Edward was so good at beating us all up," I retorted.

Four didn't laugh. Neither did I. He tried again. "Besides just being good, your first time was under five minutes. That's unheard of," Four said flatly. "Have any of the others broken five minutes?"

"Not yet," I admitted. "But then, I was tested on something different because you guys forgot about me."

"Do you feel… different when you're under?" he pressed. "Like there's something should be doing but no one's told you and you're just guessing what it is?" I couldn't name the emotion in his voice.

His question sounded so ridiculous. "I don't know what it's supposed to feel like, but it's felt the same every time. I wake up in a situation that seems pretty reasonable and I deal with it," I replied sharply.

Four smiled tightly. His eyes still held that dark question in them, but he stopped his prying. "That's good. That's the right answer," he said.

I nodded for want of a better reaction. He sat back and moved the computer screen back into place. The weird moment was finally over and he was back to his familiar, gruff attitude. I almost felt bad about the jabs, but not enough to apologize for them. He already didn't like me. That probably wouldn't change now.

I did still have my questions about the whole point of phase two, and dammit I wasn't about to not ask them. "So in general I shouldn't expect any more tests on how I deal with natural disasters?" I asked.

"Unless it's done to start poking at less physical fears like lack of control or the unknown, yes," Four replied. He maintained his irritable affect even as he answered my question. "We've got at least another week of feeling out the general blocks. Get prepared for longer days here. Then, next Phase will focus in on those key areas to help you address them.

"You'll know when we hit one of your blocks once your time gets unnaturally long," Four said in conclusion. When he did, I could tell that I was officially out of time.

He pointed towards the door.

The average was tightening up and I waited on bated breath as the frontrunners like Marlene and Uriah closed in at nine minutes each. I still had the fastest time overall, something that I clutched tightly in my mind. I wanted to try harder, next time. I knew what was coming and if I could figure out sooner that I was in a sim, I might be able to figure out the way out faster.

Unfortunately - or fortunately depending on the day - we didn't just have fear training to do. Lauren and Four were driving in the squad training harder than ever, not letting us wait until after lunch to begin. We were handed pre-packed meals, our new water bottles, and the packs that we'd used during the transfer city run training. It seemed too close a coincidence now that Eric had been quizzing me on street locations.

"You'll be partnered with someone that either Lauren or I know that you don't have rapport with. You won't always have a choice who is on your team during operations. This is a way to learn communication skills and also build up a thick skin," Four explained. I raised an eyebrow. He didn't have the thickest skin while dealing with Eric. Lauren at least seemed able to put aside her irritation with him yesterday and be courteous now.

The task each partner was assigned was to act as couriers for "important intel," aka a tagged brick that was in one of our bags. Neither partner knew if they held the actual intel to avoid one person leaving the other one. Our drop location was in one of the other four factions with one of the wall main outposts serving as Amity. "We're not going to send you out beyond the wall without full training," Lauren insisted.

"How come Amity is allowed to live out there then?" Lynn asked.

Four smirked. "No one ever said the other factions were smart," he replied.

Lauren wasn't impressed. "They're pacifists, but they're not dumb. If there's going to be trouble, the wall guard is there in record time. But Johanna is a firm believer that they'd rather they pay the price than have the city be in danger. That's why they ship food in the city silos and warehouses so frequently. They're a big target, but they welcome and deal with it," she snapped.

It wasn't a great way to start off the assignment. We were paired off - Christina and Will were crestfallen to have their teams heading off in totally opposite directions - and geared up. I was partnered with Molly, much to my displeasure. I was still bitter from Christina's jab about sleeping with Eric to get points and seeing Molly only reminded me that she'd said much the same thing before our fist fight.

"Don't slow me down, Stiff," Molly grunted. Her pack was too high on her shoulders. I pointed out the straps she should adjust to have it sit properly on her back. She slugged me in the shoulder instead of listening.

The sun was higher and the humidity was out in full force today. Lauren let us out through the motorpool. I threw a small salute to the sergeant when I spotted his red hair sticking out from underneath one of the trucks in the repair bay. Then we were out, just Molly and I walking along one of the main streets.

Our destination was in Erudite, at one of their smaller research labs. I wondered if there would be a Dauntless there to receive our drop or if one of the Erudite would. We had a pretty good relationship with the faction, as much as it chafed me. They supplied us with solid new weapons designs and helped with the stat reports that went out to describe Chicago crime and danger ratings.

Molly wasn't a conversationalist. She avoided me, charging off at a quick trot without discussing what would make sense for us. I adjusted the strap across my chest and then followed behind, my eyes scanning for anything out of the ordinary. We might have been with partners, but the person who had stabbed Edward still hadn't been found. My anxiety kept my head turning every few feet.

We cut through Candor. It wouldn't help our time, but Molly wasn't open to discussing it. I called ahead to her, but she just kept going. If I didn't think there was a pretty good chance that luck would have our intel brick be Molly's, I would have left without her. Plus that would solidly ruin the whole "team building" part of the challenge.

I sighed and hauled ass to catch up with her. "Hey Molly, we should talk about strategy," I managed between heavy breaths.

"I've got my own," she spat.

"We're going the wrong way if we want to be efficient," I tried again. "There's a whole section of the factionless district that we should be going through instead of making this big loop through Candor."

Her feet slowed, I think only because she knew that I would be able to catch up with her. Her pack had shifted, too, leaning on one shoulder. I matched her pace and waited for her to respond.

Molly narrowed her eyes. That was the only warning that I got before she turned and kicked my feet out under me. I felt gravity flip and stared at the blue summer sky in complete confusion.

"I told you before to just give up. Why won't you go away? Fucking stiffs should be factionless," she snarled. Her teeth flashed in a snarl as she threw all her weight into a punch for my face. I rolled over and over twice to get clear of her and be able to haul myself to my feet. I didn't trust that she wouldn't start kicking me.

I was too bewildered to respond other than to grunt out an eloquent "what the fuck?" I stood and brought my fists into a guard position. Molly didn't wait before attacking again. She'd gotten better at not telegraphing her blows, and I had to rely on speed to avoid them once I spotted her tells. She went for my face again and I threw my elbow up to block. I had a small opening to slam her side with my closed fist.

"What's your problem?" I hissed as she once again lashed out at my face and neck. "We're all on the same side."

She laughed without an ounce of joy. It kept her from attacking for a few precious seconds and I scurried two steps back. I didn't want to make things worse. Hell, right now I just wanted to get away from her. I didn't want another set of broken ribs.

My flight reflex dropped as I made the connection. I couldn't place it at the time, but hearing her now, I put it together. "You're the one who attacked me on the street," I said, aghast. "But… why? Did Peter put you up to that, to this?"

Molly's face darkened. "Peter doesn't tell me to do shit," she snarled. Still, I had distracted her from another attack. "I wanted you to drop out. You shouldn't be here. You're kind don't belong anywhere. You steal everything and lie about it."

"Abnegation doesn't steal anything," I flinched as she threw her fists down and screamed.

"Liar!" Molly roared. "You don't deserve to be Dauntless. I'll break every bone in your body if I have to keep you out."

My grace period was over. She surged forward again, her fists whiter than bone from how tightly she was clenching them. I ducked down and launched a sucker punch to her gut. She toppled over, scrambling and grabbing at my pack. I stood up and twisted to kick her for good measure. It forced her to the pavement where I could dart around her and grab hold of her throat with one arm.

My hold was weak with her pack in my way. I dropped to one knee on top of her bent legs to make up for the lost leverage. Molly writhed against me, nails clawing my arm. I cringed at the bloody scratches she opened up but didn't release my hold. If I let go even an inch, she'd be able to bite me.

"You're fucking psychotic," I snarled. Fear was rising in my gut. I couldn't keep up the choke hold indefinitely. We hadn't been trained on how long was safe, only to use it to restrain someone before cuffing them.

I didn't have long to consider the options. Molly thrashed once more, rolling both of us onto the ground. From there, she kicked out from my grip. I grabbed her elbow out of desperation and threw my entire body weight on her arm.

The crack that sounded was unnatural on all accounts. Molly screamed several seconds later. I might have felt guilty if she hadn't been threatening me with far worse.

"You bastard," she cried.

I rolled off of her and stood. My knee jerked up and down as my nerves sought a new outlet. "Just shut up," I breathed.

Finally I heard a door open and someone run out. I sighed and clicked my pack off to find anything that could splint Molly's arm while we waited for an emergency transport. I wasn't going to make it to Erudite.

So! A mystery has been answered. Rest assured, this isn't the end of Molly's repercussions. One broken arm doesn't even out two such personal assaults. She's also getting zero points in the "Teamwork" column of her personal score. Hands up, who thought that Molly was responsible for the first attack? I'm curious who thought it was her.