As usual, we have training off after fights, and once again, Beth's gotten bored.
"Let's go and get our hair done again! I was thinking… silver. What do you think?" Beth says. There's a wince in my head as i think of the memorable silver hair, but I still nod, bringing my mind back to the present.
"Sure. I was thinking of getting rid of my streaks, and getting… chocolate highlights, you know where they colour just a few strands of hair at a time? I kind of want to tone it down…" I mumble to myself.
"Honestly you'd look amazing with whatever hair you have. Lily?" Beth says, looking her way.
"…I think I'll just get a trim." She murmurs, and my eyes linger on her downcast face. She never takes fights well. We bid farewell to the boys and head to the salon, and sure enough I get chocolate highlights in my dark red hair, and Beth goes silver. It takes a good number of hours, so we have plenty of time to talk.
"By the way… Beth, is anything going on between you and Ben?" Lily asks slyly, a grin on her face as Beth's ears go pink.
"What do you mean?" She questions ignorantly.
"She means you two dry humping on the middle of the floor, and then leaving together." I state dryly, and her whole face colours but she sighs.
"I don't know guys. I think I like him, and I'd definitely be willing to try, but we're in initiation, and he doesn't seem to be that interested in me. I mean Leon is way more forward with you, even though neither of you are really into each other. I just don't feel like the emotional baggage." Beth says slightly worriedly. Emotional Baggage. I can think of someone who that applies to.
"He may not be very forward because he actually likes you. I mean he's definitely closer with you than either me or Lily, he may want to seem manly and hide his feelings." I tell her, ignoring any words about Leon.
"Really?" Beth questions.
"Of course, You guys would be so sweet together. But I agree on waiting a little, you don't really want anything distracting from initiation, at least not at Dauntless." Lily says, and her voice goes down at the end. I share a look with Beth, attempting to tell her to change topic.
"Speaking of you and Leon, did anything happen that night? Did anything happen, cos it doesn't seem that your head over heels for him but you weren't in the dorm that night." Beth says, and I freeze for a second before regaining control. Fuck, I didn't mean change subject to something like this.
"No, nothing beyond what we did at the bar. You're right, he really isn't my type." I say, trying to ignore her last statement.
"So where were you then…is there someone else?" Beth asks and I raise my eyebrows sarcastically at her.
"I'm restless when I'm drunk, I think I just wandered around the compound. How do you even know I wasn't at the dorm?" An easy half truth. I did wander round the compound. Then I attempted to train before getting caught by Eric who took me to his apartment, groped me, marked me, undressed me, and many other things I really shouldn't be thinking about.
"I remember waking up to get some water. Your shoes were there but no sign of you. And are you sure, Jay noticed you've been wearing turtlenecks recently." Beth says smugly and I stare at her blankly. Fuck my life.
"I'm sure."… that the marks on my neck are nowhere near gone and it's been five days. I don't even remember how hard he was sucking but there's no way this can happen again. I sigh. "Fine, I've got a couple of hickeys. I think Leon must have given them to me sometime during that night, but it really wasn't anything, just drunken fun. Nope tequila fun."
Lily's eyes widen slightly and Beth squeals.
"Honestly, I was beginning to wonder if anyone was getting frisky, I mean we are in Dauntless! Can we see, how bad are they are, I mean-"
"Of course you can't see, why do you think I've been wearing turtlenecks solidly since – though I do quite like the style…" I wonder off. The conversation continues away into nothing and we quickly change topics When we leave with renewed vigour, we go to dinner, and just as I leave, someone follows.
"Avery! Avery wait up!" I hear Lily's voice behind me and I turn to look at her, but she pulls me aside.
"I have a… request." She mumbles, and I study her. She's been down since fights, and she wants something from me? If she asked to go running with me, it must be to do with getting stronger.
"What is it?" I ask curtly.
"I… um… well um…" She stutters and I get impatient.
"Yes?"
"Can you help me?" She asks quietly, in the already deserted hallway. "With fights I mean. I'm in the lower half-"
"You're the weakest." I say bluntly, and she blushes slightly, but carries on.
"Yeah, and I'm training really hard, but I can't seem to improve." She says hopelessly. "Please, will you help me train extra? I've been running more and more, but I figure I need some help with skill as well and I can't ask Four or Eric cos they'll kill me and I can't ask Jay cos…"
"Because you like him, and you don't want him to see how weak you are." I fill in, almost irritated by the cliché. "We'll see." I say. There's no way I'm integrating her into my usual training, she hasn't seen me full out on Kasper and I want to keep it that way. But, I could try to teach her a bit… "Let's go." I say, heading straight for the usual training room. Personally I always go to the training block, but I have a feeling Eric showed that to me and only me for a reason.
"Now?" She stutters and I raise an eyebrow.
"You don't want anyone to know about it, and right now none of the other initiates will be training." I supply, and she nods as we enter, and sure enough it's empty.
"Start with strength, show me how many pull ups you can do." I say and she starts of, and gets to nine straight away before falling to her feet, breathing heavily. She's got better arm strength than me, that's for sure, but if she wants me to teach her…
"I'm going to show you an exercise, I want to see if you can copy it, and for how long." I tell her, moving to the bar and deftly flinging my feet over the bar. The exact same exercise I did that peaked Eric's curiosity, I lift myself up by my ankles in basically an upside down squat, before repeating. It's a hard exercise, much harder than pull ups because it's using ankles, and I can just do thirty reps on a good day, and that's with a good few seconds of just hanging in between.
I drop down, and she looks at me slightly alarmed, but gets up to try nonetheless. I'm proud that she managed one, but after that, she fell straight to the floor. That's not good.
She gets up to try again, but once again fails after a single one.
"-come over here." I tell her, and move her to one of the bricked walls. "I'm going to tap a brick, and you're going to kick it. Go."
I start her off, keeping my face straight as her chances continually get worse. After five minutes, I stop her.
"…this isn't working." I say bluntly.
"What do you mean? You can still help me train right?" She asks, desperation in her eyes. I pause slightly, observing her, before sighing.
"You asked me to train you, but I fight using my legs. Your leg strength may be better, but it's nowhere near good enough and won't be for years, and furthermore your coordination with your feet is disastrous!" I say, shaking my head, turning away. "I can't teach you my skills. But I can help you train the ones Four's taught you. The fighting style you've learnt in class is best suited to you, your arms are surprisingly strong."
She seems surprised by my summary, but nods her head nonetheless.
"First, let's work on your punch."
We start again, but I help her go over all the techniques Four's been teaching, moving her to put more of her weight into her punch. There's still a problem with that though.
"You're going to start eating whatever Jay gets you. You need to put on weight, build muscle. You're like a feather." I scowl at her, and she frowns slightly.
"But if I eat more I could just put on fat…" She mumbles and I laugh at her.
"We're doing so much training you'll never put on fat regardless of how much you eat." I scoff. "For now, we have around an hour left before we should get back I say, glancing at the clock that read 9 pm. If we get back at 10, that'll leave me with enough time to rest before my own training. "We need to work on your agility, which means drills."
She groans slightly as I instruct her, but in the end I join in, they're simple, like sprinting in a zig-zag , hops and skips in between, but they can be extremely effective.
"Right, we'll stop there for tonight, but tomorrow since Four's taking us for a run, we'll head here and work on reflexes, yours are shit." I say to her as she finishes the last repeat, and she nods.
"Thanks for this… I feel like I'm depending on you too much, you took care of Kasper, you told me about the shotgun, and now your helping me fight? I'm really grateful." She tells me, though confidently. I just gaze back at her, though in my head I'm unsure. I scowl and turn away, not waiting for her to scurry after me as we leave.
I know I have a soft spot for her, something about her stupid bravery… I shouldn't be so mad at myself for it, but I've even admitted it to Eric. I want to make sure she's okay.
"Get some sleep, I'll wake you up in the morning." I tell her, before climbing up into bed silently. I curl up in the light covers, putting my head under as well to surround myself in darkness. I take deep breaths and lower my heart rate, letting my brain rest as I wait for the sounds in the door to go down, before checking my watch. It's 2 am. Safe enough.
I climb down the ladder of my bunk silently, the only downside to this corner bunk, before picking up my trainers and leaving the dorm. As soon as I'm out I walk barefoot over to the training block, a fair way away before putting my shoes on once in the private vicinity of a training room. And then I punch.
I'm satisfied with my punching in the last fight, I still managed to win without kicking once, but that was against the weakest initiate. I doubt I would've faired the same against anyone in the top half without kicks. I think I've got the technique, and whilst I was critiquing Lily I silently evaluated how my own skills were fairing, but I know I can't judge myself as well as a real pro would. So for now, it's bulking up my arms.
I've never really liked the idea of the full on muscle look on me, so I'm going to aim for more rotational speed which means mostly shoulders.
Time passes and the next time I look at the clock it's four am. I should really get more rest… I guess I'll head back, I'll be waking Lily up at six.
As I walk back, I can't stop my mind wandering. Four said the patrol was lasting five days, and today is the fifth day. Did he mean they would come back on the fifth or the sixth? And at what time? Axel's on the patrol as well, and I want to see him… he'll give me a straight answer on how my punches are doing, no waffling.
I manage to rest a little before noticing the time, and I wake Lily up, and take her to the training room and work on her reflexes. It's basically more agility work, but more on the short term. I start with slow jabs to either her shoulders or her hips, four points of impact, and she has to adjust her block to it. And then I gradually start speeding my punches up. It's gradual… but it's working.
"Avery!"
A voice calls me from my focus, and I spin to lay my eyes on Axel who's run into the room, sweating slightly. I would've smiled, but his frown prevents me.
"What is it?" I ask, a light note of concern in my voice as I leave my spar with Lily.
He offers no explanation, just a wary glance at Lily, before taking my arm and guiding me quickly out of the room.
"Do the drills we did yesterday." I call behind me, before launching straight into a fast walk beside Axel. "What's happened?"
"We just got back. It was mostly a success, but we got ambushed on the way back. It wasn't a priority area, so we decided to just retreat and hop on the train, but a few who stayed to cover got shot. They're all back, but one won't go to the infirmary." Axel explains to me hurriedly. I blink at him in confusion. I give a questioning stare, and he finally looks away.
"It's Eric, I need your help to get him to go to the infirmary, he's never been fond of it."
I pause in my tracks and my face hardens. What is he talking about? No one knows of mine and Eric's… closer relationship.
"What do you mean?" I ask him neutrally, waiting for him to actually tell me what's going on. He looks around frustrated, before yanking me by the arm and continuing at break neck pace.
"For heaven's sake…" He mutters, lowering his voice. "I'm one of the only people in Dauntless Eric's close to, and trusts. He also knows we're close, and he's talked to me these past few days Avery. I know you're closer than the average instructor and initiate." He whispers harshly.
… Eric talked to him about me. … … … I have no idea what to think, what the hell?! My silence as my brain flitters through a million thoughts per second, apparently signals for Axel to continue explaining.
"He's been shot twice, one I think just grazed his arm but the other's somewhere in his abdomen, I couldn't see the wound only the blood." Axel tells me and I push the information to the back of my mind.
"I still don't understand. I can't get him to go to the infirmary if you can't, you said it yourself he trusts you." I say and Axel just laughs almost manically.
"I've also known him a lot longer, trust me, you'll be able to get the bastard into the infirmary." Axel tells me but I just blink. What the fuck is he telling me, I can't convince Eric to do anything he'll barely allow me to do anything myself! This is crazy… he's such an idiot, if he's injured he has to get treated!
"Shit." Axel mutters and quickly pulls me behind a small corner out of sight. "Stay here."
I barely realised we were already in the corridors of Eric's apartment, and now Axel's heading out to where three men were banging loudly on a door.
"Axel! The fucking bastard's changed his code to the registry!" A man yells.
"What? Fuck. You'll never get him out Lincoln. Head back to the armoury and help out there, I don't mean this offensively but he'll never come out with everyone here. I'll get him out." Axel says almost casually.
"Are you sure, how are you even going to open the-"
"I said I've got it. Do you really want to be here when I'm dragging him out?" Axel asks with a teasing tone, and the next thing I hear is feet pattering in the opposite direction. Once they sound far enough away I peak my head around.
"Come on. I'm trying to guess his passcode." Axel motions me closely as he attempts and fails to guess the passcode.
"Son of bitch… there's only two attempts left… I bet he's using a long arse word…" Axel swears, and I try to think. What would Eric do choosing a password… he'd try to think of the most secure… then get frustrated… what would he do if he was frustrated…
"Fucking arsehole!" Axel yells and I push myself in front of him, typing in four letters. The light turns green. I put my hand on the doorknob hurriedly, but stop halfway.
"…maybe I should go in alone first. I'm guessing you've already tried to bring him in, he's too stubborn to change his mind. I'll call if I need help." I tell him, before pushing open the door and closing it behind me before he can protest.
I turn around in the dimly lit room as all the curtains are closed, trying not to remember the last time I was here, the last time I was on that sofa. The main area is empty, but the curses I can hear from the bathroom are prominent, along with the light bursting from the open door.
I move closer, into the light, and as soon as I see him my eyes widen.
Even through his black clothing the red tint is unmissable, and the slash on his arm is in full view as he's seemingly ripped his sleeve off.
His head whips around, his eyes settling on me.
For a moment there's silence.
"What are you doing here?" His words are soft, but I can't stop myself from moving forward.
"You're hurt, what happened?" I ask, not being able to stop the worry in my voice from coming through.
He looks away from me and moves further into the bathroom.
"Ambushed, barely south of here, we were unaware they were armed. I stayed back, covered for the train, fucking factionless came out the underpass." He grunts.
"Where are you hurt?" I ask, and he doesn't answer. "Eric, are you shot, please tell me." I plead him, but he just moves out of sight.
"What are you doing here?" He asks again, and I debate lying, but I know it won't do any good here.
"Axel told me." I say, with the half truth, leaving out the fact he's standing right outside. "He told me you were hurt, do you want help?"
He moves back into my line of sight and looks towards me but not at me.
"How did you know the passcode?" He asks, and I'm surprised by his question.
"Hm?"
"How did you figure out the password, I changed it before I left." He tells me, and I blink slightly.
"…I just went through my thought process when choosing a password… then realised it would've been the first word to come out of your mouth." I mumble through the words, almost embarrassed.
"What," He lets out a half chuckle, "Fuck?", before letting out another harsh curse, grasping his side.
My feet move on their own as they move straight up to him, but the second I step a long arm is holding me back by the shoulder.
"Don't." He growls, but it doesn't even take me a second to notice the lack of his usual fierceness. So my hands go up to take his arm holding my shoulder, and I catch his eyes before he turns away.
"Please…" I murmur softly, as my fingers sweep up blood on his arms. "Please let me help."
My words are so soft I can barely hear them myself, but I know he'll take better to one person helping him than giving in to going to the infirmary. He doesn't say anything, just holds my stare as my hands slowly sweep further up his arm.
"Please Eric… for me."
OMGGGGGGGGGG MY HEARTSTRINGSSSSSSSSSS! This chapter's a little shorter than usual but I couldn't not end it here… I'm so happy with it (am I allowed to be?), and I hope everyone enjoys it. As said before, this chapter I started the next development of Lily and Avery, and put in the fluff cos I was just in that kinda mood! I also have a scene for I think the next chapter that I wrote ages ago (I was in the mood lol) which I'm really excited to put in, so more to come! Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys it, read and review as always!