The first week flies by for the others, for me it's a bore. We don't start knife throwing till the second week, so it's been half gun shooting, a quarter punching bags (which I can half do), and a quarter general fitness training. Apparently, most of the fitness exercises would cause stress on my arm, so I've been stuck with running ¾ of the time, and a little bit of punching bag work. Since I've kept my regime of waking up early (which Four seems to have accepted) and running around the compound then as well, I won't deny my legs are now extremely strong, it's just they were already strong to begin with. I feel like I'm berating myself every hour for breaking my damned arm. And it's on the first day of the second week, that the first fights start.

After my early morning run and the shower following, I wait in the dorm, and give a weak smile to Four as he walks in to wake the others up. The clash of the pipe has everyone moaning awake, and I shake Lily a little more to help her up.

"Um… Avery, could you hold up a towel while I shower? I didn't last night because… well a lot of the others were showering…" Lily mumbles nervously to me and I nod in assurance. It's quick and we make our way to the dining room.

"I'm so nervous… for the fights. I never thought we'd be fighting so soon." Lily says worriedly. "I mean… let's be honest I'm probably one of the weakest here… imagine if I get paired with Jay!"

I carry on walking in silence, not having the heart to agree with her.

"I mean, you could probably beat me with one arm!" She mumbles dejectedly and I laugh. Though I laughed at the truth of it, I try to use it to make her feel better.

"It's the first week. People like Jay were strong before they got here. You just need to take your time." I tell her, but she's still looking at the floor.

"I just hope the others do okay. I guess it depends on how we're matched up." Lily says as we sit down.

"You feeling okay?" Jay asks Lily as she sits down, and she nods a little. I doubt anyone is convinced. "Well, at least it's a nice breakfast, all these pancakes won't disappear by themselves!" Jay continues, which manages to bring a smile to Lily's face.

"We better hurry though, we should know by now they hate tardiness." Ben exclaims through scoffing his own pancakes. I agree silently and eat fast as the conversation continues, no one really committing, as the fights grow nearer.

"Right, you've had one week of training, and that is how long we give you before fights start." Four says, pacing in front of the transfer initiates. "In case you haven't noticed, there's an odd number of you, so each week one of you will sit out, however for the moment that will be Avery."

"What are the rules?" Jay asks, and as soon as I hear the heavy footsteps, I worry for his sanity.

"You fight." Eric's voice is instructional, as usual. "Until one of you can't anymore." The glint in his eyes are malicious, the sadistic smirk on his lips alluring. He leans over Jay, who isn't anywhere near short, though can't hold Eric's gaze as its obvious he doesn't agree.

"Or one of you concedes." Four adds gravely, making a point to stare at Eric.

"Nah, those are the old rules Four, only cowards concede." Eric glares back, and I see Four grimace as he turns away.

"This week we'll determine the fights by jumping status. First and last jumper, into the ring." Four says, and I pat Jay on the back before going to sit on a side bench. One of the erudite girls, Isobel, was last jumper, and I can instantly tell by her nervous stance, it isn't going to go well for her. From what I've seen at the punching bags, Jay might be the best fighter here.

The fight starts. And it ends. It was quick, Jay starting of slowly, yet still getting in three hesitant punches on the cowering girl before Eric yelled to hurry it up. Then all it took was a kick to her knee, and with a last punch to her head she was out. Her friend, Lottie, helped drag her out where she lay on the floor before waking up in the later fights.

"Nicely done." I tell Jay, but I could tell by his eyes, darting around the room, he was pretty shaken up, just from winning.

Next it was Tom against Ben, who had jumped third, and Ben won narrowly. Then the Kasper went up against Mickey, and Beth against Lottie, which Beth won. So far all of my group of friends had won their fights, but I couldn't be so sure about this one.

"Lily, use your elbows and knees, he's bigger so you won't have enough strength with just punches." I tell her as Beth and Lottie leave the ring. She just nods at me, eyes glazed over. "Be brave." I tell her, in a last attempt to get her moral up, as she faces Zander, the former abnegation.

As soon as she steps in the ring though, Zander launches straight at her, pinning her to the floor. His fist fly to her stomach viciously, but he leaned back to far and Lily managed to elbow him in the face, using the distraction to get up. She remembers her defensive position, and as he closes in on her she ducks a punch and goes to punch his torso, but to no avail. She just doesn't have enough strength.

As soon as her head hit the mat floor, I watched as Ben and Jay carry her over to the bench we had been sitting at, and Four circled Zander's name on the board.

"Right, you have the rest of the day off initiates. I suggest you think over your fights and heal up, and go relax. You won't get much more of it." Four says curtly, and Jay and Ben continue to lift Lily as Beth and I lead the way to the dorm room.

"Poor thing… she really had a bad matchup." Beth says, looking down on Lily's face.

"Bad matchup? I'm gonna go ahead and say what we're all thinking, she wouldn't have stood a chance against most." Ben admits in true Candor fashion.

"She'll get better. It's only week one." Jay says, ever the optimist.

"Right. Shopping!" Beth says as soon as we set Lily down on her bed. "Or… I want to get a tattoo! To celebrate winning our first fights!"

"Sounds like a good idea actually." Ben agrees, and I nod. I personally don't actually feel like a tattoo. I haven't accomplished anything yet, and a tattoo is a symbol of being dauntless. I look down at Lily, and quickly write out a quick note to say where we're going, though I miss out the part of celebrating first fights.

"I think I'm going to get dauntless fire." Beth says, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Wouldn't that be a little cliché?" Ben asks, and Beth nods.

"True, but I feel like its right. I think I'll get it on the centre of my back. What about you guys?" Beth asks.

"I'm gonna skip for now. I don't know of anything I really want yet, and I haven't even had a fight yet, so I don't see a reason." I say honestly.

"Same here. Well, I've had a fight, but call me sentimental it didn't feel like a victory to me." Jay says and we lock eyes, nodding.

"I think I'm going to get a sword, on my forearm. It'll look cool." Ben says and I raise my eyebrows. Rather typical boy eh?

We step inside the tattoo parlour and Beth and Ben immediately run off to some of the artists.

"I'm gonna browse, see if I can get some ideas for when I do want one." Jay says, walking around, admiring some of the tribal patterns on the glass. The room's dark, but I find myself on edge as I walk further in. Personally, I guess I don't really see much point to a tattoo, but then again I haven't exactly seen many. So when I walk to the back to see an artist working on a client's back, already decorated with black marks, I grow curious. As I draw closer I recognise the dark blond hair and broad figure of Eric, and my eyes widen. His pale back has abstract patterns on it, a few chain links, and some simple black lines diagonal from his side. On his left shoulder blade sits dauntless fire, and another symbol, that I soon realise is a leadership tattoo.

My head is slightly dizzy as I take in the sight, and I am unable to tear my eyes away from his skin. What on earth am I doing? I mentally shake my head before turning to look at the designs on the wall, intent on distracting myself. That butterfly tattoo is extremely cliché. The dragonfly as well. Why am I looking at the insects?

"All done. You know the drill with the disinfectant." I hear the voice of what must be the tattoo artist, and will myself to move onto the birds of the next section. The eagle is rather nice I guess…

"What are you doing here initiate?" Shivers pass down my spine as I turn.

"Waiting for the others." I answer immediately. I can't figure out the meaning of his gaze as he looks down to me after pulling his top on. I really tried not to even glance at his abs while his eyes were blocked from view. I tried.

"Not getting one yourself then?" He drawls and I shake my head.

"I can't think of anything I want. It's not like I deserve one yet anyway." I say honestly as he walks towards me.

"What, so your browsing for when you do? Got a little butterfly on your list?" He adds sarcastically, but his eyes are still questioning.

"…I was thinking more on the eagle. Or the raven." I reply. For some reason I always feel the need to tell the truth to Eric. Maybe it's because I think he'd be able to tell if I lied.

"Good." He says, though a smirk grows on his face. Good what? "Though you'll be waiting a while if you want to wait till you win a fight. You'll be splattered over the mats like the other one of you."

My face hardens at his remark, and my eyes narrow slightly. I could not be further from Lily and I'm sure he knows it. True I haven't been shooting which has been the vast majority of training so far, but she's at the back of the group, and I'm at the front when we're running. When we practiced basic manoeuvres, she held back punches and kicks that were too light to begin with, I let accurate kicks past my partner's defence. Though it may be arrogant of me to say, I'm not at all like Lily.

"We'll have to see how things turn out." I say, keeping my voice as calm and level as possible, masking my irritation. His brow quirks, a tension between us at his silent challenge. His slight smirks mirrors mine, as I hear my name being called in the background. "Have a nice afternoon, Eric."

"I love it I love it I love it!" Beth squeals as we walk back to the dorms.

"You can't even see it." I say dryly, and Jay and Ben chuckle.

"Yeah, well still." Beth replies in mock anger.

"'Well still.' The most in depth explanation ever given by an erudite." I rebut, and Jay and Ben continue laughing.

"Hey guys." As we enter the dorms, sure enough Lily is sitting up in her cot, smiling weakly. As we walk further in I can see there's a prominent bruise on her forehead, a rather difficult place to bruise, covered by her hair.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Ben asks and she smiles.

"Not too bad actually. I have a small headache, but other than that…" Lily says, and soon enough we've launched into descriptions of Beth and Ben's tattoos, waiting for the day to end.

"After yesterday's fights, we've ranked you. These ranks will be updated at the end of every month, and at the end of physical they will be combined with the dauntless born, and your number will be cut to 20." Four explains, standing in front of a covered board. There were 31 initiates overall, but at a guess once we've been mixed with the dauntless-born, most of us transfers will be gone. True, we'll have had four months, but it's difficult to overcome the 16 years of training the dauntless-born have.

The board is revealed, and what I see surprises me.

1)Kasper

2)Jay

3)Zander

4)Ben

5)Beth

6)Avery

7)Tom

8)Mickey

9)Lottie

10)Lily

11)Isobel

"This is bullshit!" Tom, one of the candor-born yells in annoyance to Four and Eric, both of which look entirely non-plussed. "She hasn't even had a fight, why is she halfway up?"

"Avery hasn't lost a fight. You have." Eric answers easily, but it doesn't seem to lessen the anger of Tom and Mickey, the other candor-born boy ranked below me.

"Plus, this isn't just on fights. How you've performed with guns and running also contributes, and in case you haven't noticed, she's always at the front. Laps all of you too. You should be surprised she isn't higher." Four says sternly, and I'm surprised myself by his defence. I guess it's true, but still, I expected to be last.

"Initiates!" Eric yells as Tom and Mickey both start to talk back once more, and they're silenced by one menacing look. "We're starting knife throwing. Get to work."

Sure enough, Four walks forward and picks up a set of five throwing knives. They're slim, and look exceedingly sharp, and I can't help but smile as I look at them. I think they're rather pretty actually. He lines himself up with a target, 10m away.

"As with the guns, watch closely." Four says, and I do as he says. His stance is similar to that with the guns, but his shoulders face more sideways, his back arm at a right angle. His left arm is rests in the air in front of him, and he leans back, and in one motion turns his body, whips his arm forward and with a flick of the wrist the knife is embedded in the dead centre of the target.

"Your non-throwing arm is for balance and to help with rotation. You shouldn't need it once you've mastered the technique." Four tells us and we all move to take a set of five throwing knives. My fingers ghost over the edge of them, watching as they catch the light. I think I'm going to enjoy this.

Standing in the lanes between Ben and Beth, I shoulder myself exactly as I remember Four did, though in the opposite direction. With his example clear in my mind, I bring my throwing arm up, flicking my wrist to practice the motion. It feels uncomfortable, but I know it'll have to do with my non-dominant arm. I quickly go through the turning motion, and that's when I hear the first knives being thrown. Once I deem myself ready I quickly look around to the other targets. Some of the knives are hitting the outer points of the targets, but they all fall to the floor. By the looks of it someone down the other end managed to stick a knife, however it's not even on the target.

I breath in as I ready myself, then exhale, turn, whip my arm forward and snap my wrist, just as I remember Four. I hear a light thud and look up to the sight of my knife solidly stuck into the shoulder of my target. I did it, and a smile works its way onto my face. I can't celebrate yet though, it could easily be a fluke.

I aim for the heart of the target each time, and as I follow up with the next knife, it sticks once more, though into the lower abdomen of my target, even if it was below the heart. I try again, speeding up ever so slightly to get used to the motion, and stick my last three knives into the target once more, another in the shoulder, one in the arm, and one underneath the shoulder, not on the actual target technically. All the knives are on the right side of the target (the left side of the actual body), and I wait for the call to go and collect them.

As we start our second round, I try to aim more to the left, but to no avail. I even angle my arm more to the left, and even though I get one knife on the left side of the target, it's way off the hear, in the thigh.

"How are you sticking them? Mine are all falling." Beth asks, and I glance up.

"How about trying different levels of flicking your wrist?" I suggest, and she turns away to try. As I resume throwing I hear a thud from the lane next to me and smile slightly.

Before I'm interrupted by a firm hand on my stomach, along with a distinct scent of applewood.

"You're over rotating." Eric's voice is gruff as he slides up against my body, his hand taking my throwing arm's wrist, keeping his other firmly on my stomach. I can feel his whole form up against my back, along with his breath against my ear, and I barely register his words.

"Throw." His voice orders in my ear, and I attempt to block out all my awareness of him, breathing in, then out, throwing as I had before. This time however, the firm grip on my stomach tightens, and my shoulder's stop earlier, blocked by the strong frame behind my, and my eyes follow to the blade stuck into the target's heart. Of course. Of course it hit's dead centre.

"Good." His lips suddenly brush my ear and my breath snags as I intake sharply. I can feel his smirk right behind me. He finally steps away after what felt like hours.

"Thank you sir." I say, needing to say anything to get my mind off his warm presence.

"Get better." He orders harshly, but it translates to me as I can do better.

As he stalks away I take up a knife once, more, take a deep breath, pull back, and throw.

The sound of scraping metal echoes as my knife sides up right next to the last.

More Eric… mmm I can't get enough! I'm not too sure about the tattoo parlour scene, but as soon as I started it I knew I couldn't not include Eric. I feel like I could have put more on Lily's loss and the fights, but I don't think Avery's character would have dwelled on them, she doesn't fluff around and if she did say anything to Lily about it, it would just be "get better" alike what Eric said to her. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it