To all the guests that reviewed and Elisa, to the one who said Avery is badass- yes she's so fucking awesome! To the one who said it was realistic and full of tension- one of my main goals, and I completely agree I doubt Eric and Avery will be able to hold out much longer! To Elisa, I'm so glad the characterisation is good, and just putting it out there...being a minor never stopped me… but don't worry I'll keep it relatively tame! To the one who said they didn't care if it was M, you just conveyed what everyone thinks in our dark dirty minds ;p Oh and thanks for reviewing!
To Garber Baby- Glad the sexual tension has held up over the chapters! I agree that with Eric and Avery as the main couple it being surprising this doesn't become M rated- exactly why I'm letting it flow on as it goes! Thanks for the updated review!
Dear Charlotte from France once again,
I will try to make this concise
Thanks once again for your review- I literally danced around in my kitchen whilst reading it! I'm really happy you think Eric's in character- I challenged myself this chapter with a little from his point of view! Don't worry if you don't review in the future, I completely understand, sometimes I've already reviewed everything I want to say, so I just enjoy the fanfic! Your review really helped me decide to just let the sexual tension wander, and if there's a sex scene then there'll be one, but I won't push it too far. Merci, je suis très reconnaissant.
TheCloakedShadow
The voice shocks me sober as I turn my head, eyes locked onto Kasper. Behind him is Zander, as well as Mickey though I can't see Thomas, and my mind registers the volume of the crashing waves and how close we are to the drop. Their expressions are easy
to read, Mickey grinning, Zander indifferent yet with a firm gaze on me, and Kasper snarling, his lips curling up to bare his teeth.
Fuck what have I gotten into.
"Time for me to take a little bite." His words are cool, sinister, and start a war.
Kasper takes a large step towards me, hand swiping at me, and the first thing I can think is to get away from here. But it doesn't take much longer to realise I can't flee whilst surrounded by three much larger men, so I duck underneath Kasper's next
punch and bring my knee up to kick him sprawling to the ground. Zander comes straight at me afterwards though, and Mickey's right beside him. Two on one, just my luck.
My body reacts on instinct, twisting and turning bringing up limbs to block punches, sliding out of the way. My feet come up to block, and we dance in circles as I try to move away from the chasm, slowly working further away. But then Kasper joins in.
It takes my everything to keep up, mostly dodging and blocking, only landing momentary victories. A punch to the nose. A kick behind the knee. An elbow in the stomach. Instinct is the only thing I'm acting on, since my brain is three steps behind
in this state.
And it costs me.
I fail to realise Zander is the real threat, and as I slide out of Mickey's grasp a heavy punch slams into my shoulder, pushing me onto the floor. A foot comes down pushing my hips to the floor and before I know it there's a kick to my temples.
The effects are immediate, and my mind goes elsewhere for a few seconds, unaware of the swift kicks to my abdomen if not for the sharp pain.
My ears are ringing, from the alcohol, lack of sleep or blow to the head I don't even know, but Kasper seems to wait for my eyes to focus. Spots appear in my vision as I try to focus on the person I hate most glaring down on me, but the pain overwhelms
me.
"Wait." He snarls, looking down on me. He glares straight down at me, but my gaze holds his firm, and he growls before bringing his foot down on my ankle. The familiar pain blooms, and I force myself to roll my ankle against the pain, through my gasps,
to know it's just a sprain, not a break.
"THAT- was for last week." He snarls, then brings his foot between my legs kicking me. It's an unfamiliar pain, it doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would've, but an overwhelming feeling of shame pulls through me.
"THAT- was for kicking me in the balls!"
I know what's coming next, and I might not survive it.
I might not survive it.
The thought spurs my body into action, and as he spins to kick once more, I flip up onto my hands out of his reach, and back onto my feet, a new fight in my eyes. The pain of my ankle that I landed on is but a tickle in the back of my mind, the adrenaline
numbing it. My body has realised the fight or flight mode, and has chosen fight.
My mind syncs with my body, and I don't hesitate.
It's Mickey I take down first, as he runs for me all it takes is a side step, a duck, then a hand on his shoulder to hold him. I aim a swift kick under Zander's ribs who tries to use Mickey as a distraction, and wind him as he is pushed away. Then, with
a firm grip on Mickeys shoulder, my other arm bends his, and he screams out, doubling to the floor in pain, and I knee him in the head before he crumples to the floor.
Then it's back to Zander, he's even easier, he crouches, taking his eyes off me to his fallen ally, and I turn on my heel swinging my leg round to hit his temple before he's even realised I'm up.
Only one left.
He takes three steps back before I reach him. Before my knees pummel into his torso repeatedly, his movements sloppy and predictable. I squat out of his reach, elbowing his in the nose and he reels back, before I stand on my hands letting my legs reach
round his neck as I push up. It would take a slight movement in my legs to break his neck and he'd be dead.
THINK AVERY. THINK.
I let his body fall to the floor with my weight, before releasing him, and I pin him to the floor, looking him straight in the eyes.
"Leave me alone. You can't even touch me." I don't recognise my voice as the words form the threat, and I take a quick punch to his temples and his eyes roll back.
My feet are heavy as I stand, and only then do I realise I'm limping. I don't look back on the three fallen figures, only look towards the bridge over the chasm, walking firmly though I feel like I'm crawling. I see the camera on the rock, red light flashing,
and I look straight at it, knowing this will be reported. It's obvious they ambushed me, I'm not worried. But I know if Four's taking the night shift, he'll be heading straight to find me. I don't want him to find me.
My mind has only one objective; get away from there. Get as far away as possible, where the waves no longer crash silently in my mind, get somewhere, anywhere, safer. I know my feet will hide me. The dark hallways surround me as the pain starts to reel
in, and what was a dull throb but a minute ago, is now a clear pounding in my head. I limp even more, despite being a sprain it must be a very bad sprain if it's hurting like this motherfucker. Not to mention the tingles turning into aches
in my stomach and abs from Zander's other kicks. Wait a minute, my t-shirt feels… wet… sticky… I'm bleeding… deal with that later…
I let the hallways enclose me, until… until… is that the archway to the training block?
I clear my mind enough to figure out where I let my feet take me, but can't do anything to stop my loose fingers typing in the keycode to the only place I truly know, is safe.
My mind is dull as I close the door, pushing myself through the apartment and the full force of my deprivation of rest and inebriation crashes down as my legs wobble with the alcohol until I finally lie still, surrounded by the scent of a forest.
Eric's Pov
What a nightmare… of course Avery had to see me loose off Elsie, at least that was the last of it. The last one.
I swirl the whiskey round the heavy glass as my frown deepens.
Fuck I don't even know what I'm doing, Axel was right, she's just an initiate. Bloody woman disturbing my life, I don't even care!
...What am I talking about, I can't just lie to myself, I've already tried that.
"Long night Eric?" I don't look up, but raise an eyebrow to Collin, the bartender at Reds. I've been drunk here often enough to trust him, so I grunt in response.
"Some initiates here were talking about all the distressed girls running out of here lately." He says, and I groan mentally. Initiates means that skull head Leon… at least he wasn't next to her, but they must have told her something… as if she hasn't
already figured it out, she's too smart for her own good…
"Anything worth me punishing?" I question, and Collin chuckles.
"Nah, though the glare you sent the girl should've been enough to stop any more questions." Damn bartenders, they notice too much for their own good. I grunt to pass off any unusuality, despite the strong lace of irritation running through me, before
tapping my glass for a refill.
She won't have to wait any longer. Well, actually we will. Like I would let anyone get news of a relationship with an initiate, that would be so much hassle. All the lesser Dauntless pissed at her talent, riding it off on sleeping her way in. Like she
would let anyone fuck her… that's my entitlement. I just don't know how long I can keep my hands off her… the way she stares at me… eyes wide and all waiting for some kind of approval, though I know she'd do it anyway if she really wanted too. Her
fucking body, fuck I should've controlled myself on the roof, it was every time her arms slid up my skin, her arms around me… her legs… I'm going to have to make her dress like a stiff from now on if we ever go hand-to-hand in public.
I kept her out too long, I know she wasn't late to training so she didn't get any sleep, or rest or whatever she does, she didn't even come back to my place. I only stopped in training for a moment, no one even saw me, but she was well below her usual
standard. Though even her usual standard may not be her full standard, she barely rests anyway, and especially since I've been back she's been in the infirmary with me till at least midnight… and up running in the morning surely.
I take another long sip of my drink, before a fast jog of steps takes my attention.
"Eric!" Axel stands there, a hard look in his eyes, his face saying what he can't say aloud in here.
"Tab it." I order Collin, and he nods as I doesn't take me a second to stand and sober myself, walking after Axel at a brisk pace.
"What's happened?" I snap, and Axel sighs.
"We caught it on cameras, Kasper, Zander and Mickey." He says.
"Where is she?" I don't even register the words leaving my mouth.
"Hiding. We saw her leaving, but she's avoided cameras." Axel says, a crease in his brow. "Zander and Mickey are still out cold, one has a broken arm."
"Kapser?" I growl out the name, dirt in my mouth. If he fucking touched her… if he laid a hand on her like with the other… no. She's stronger than that.
"We only have footage. Woke up under a minute…" Axel trails off and looks at me with a hard look as the chasm comes into view.
"And chucked himself off the chasm."
The words… I almost expected them, wanted them. He deserves to die, if it had been Avery instead of the other amity… like she would've let him get that far, but now this. I'm glad he's dead, fucked up bastard.
"Great." My words seem to convey my feelings to Axel and he pats me on the shoulder, obviously trying to shake me out of the endless fury in my mind.
"Eric, Four's on duty, control yourself." Axel says, and my eyes just narrow as I see the goddamned fool with a few other officials scrolling over a tablet as medics look over the two fallen initiates.
For the moments I'm walking up to Four, I'm proud. Proud at the two unconscious initiates, and the other she must have taken down, in an easily unfair battle.
"What the hell happened here?" I ask, eyeing up the bloody break of the brawnier transfer.
"Kasper, Mickey and Zander, cornered her while she was drunk, then attacked. She managed to take down all three before evading the cameras in the outer corridors. As soon as Kasper woke up he dragged himself off the chasm."
The only merit I'll give Four is that he keeps it to the point. He holds up the screen to me and I hide my smirk as I take it and the boy falls into the crashing water.
That's until I the very moment I scroll back the video on the tablet.
She's lying on the ground, and my grip tightens heavily on the tablet as that abnegation scum, Zander stamps down on her head, before jamming his foot at her stomach, her top riding up as his shoe draws blood along her side. Then the other stands, steps
on her ankle… kicks her there…. How fucking dare he?! How dare they fucking touch her, I said they wouldn't I-
"Eric." It's a silent murmur of my name from Axel's lips, to keep it together.
My jaw tightens, and I breath out, and I hope my relief isn't evident as she stands and fights. My girl.
"Clear it up. Don't bother with an investigation, just a report. They attacked her, so their injury was self-induced, and the boy committed suicide." I say clearly, before shoving the tablet back into Four's hands and stalking out in the direction the
video showed her heading.
As soon as I'm round the corner I'm running.
Where would she go, where would she run? Some corridor, but I can't find her there, I need to find her!
Would she let me find her?
If she would… she'd go home.
My pace quickens as I push through the corridors, hastily shoving the five letters, when put in that order show the only thing that's taken up my mind these past months.
The door slams shut behind me as my eyes flit to the trail of blood on the floor, eyes glued to the trail as I move through my own dimly lit apartment, and find my bedroom door wide open.
And on the bed, unmoving, hair askew, eyes barely open as her minute turn down of her lips and glazed over eyes is all I need to find her pain.
Avery's Pov
I look up, my mind a blur.
Eric.
Eric's here.
Eric found me.
"Avery…" He breathes out my name as my limbs don't let me move, don't let me go to him. My mind is quiet, exhausted, but hasn't let me rest for the… 41 minutes I've been here. So I let him.
I don't remember him getting any medical supplies, but he's gently moving my lips open placing two blue pills onto my tongue, carefully tipping my head back whilst letting my lips cradle a cup of water. My throat gulps it down, and then he's pulled my
legs over his lap as I sit upright and he examines my ankle.
"You shouldn't have walked so much on it." He says quietly, and I nod. He doesn't linger though, and doesn't hesitate to pull my top up, and grits his teeth at my red tinted skin, along with the dark patches forming.
"Can you stand?" He asks, putting a steady hand round my waist, bloodying his own body as he pulls me up. I nod hesitantly, in reality I don't think I can hold my own weight for more than a few seconds, but Eric takespretty much all my weight, moving
me towards the bathroom.
He doesn't speak, doesn't take his arm away from me as he reaches into the shower, turning it on getting light splatters on his arm. I need to shower, wash all the blood off, I realise, but there's no way I can hold myself up under strong streams of water.
But Eric's knows that too.
He pulls his shirt off with one hand and pulls us both into the shower, and I can't find anything within me protesting as I barely keep my thoughts running. The heavenly warm water is so welcoming, but it just makes we want to fall to the floor even more,
but Eric supports all my weight while I dangle in his hold, lips parted, breathless with exhaustion. I keep my eyes on him while he pulls my own top up and over my head. He drops the top on the floor of the shower, blood swirling with the water down
the drain.
I barely notice him moving to my leggings, and he tugs them down my legs and off my feet as well. My eyes have never left his face and he looks back at me, completely serious as I feel his fingertips at the edge of my sports bra, and I know it's so soaked
in blood I should take it off as well. I nod at him as he pulls it over me, as gently as possible, and even in my dead mind I notice how his hand pull up over my back, not even coming close to my chest.
Not that it made much difference, he's holding me snug up against his own bare chest to keep me from falling, and my own hands are clinging to his shoulders.
Even though I'm almost naked, in a shower, with Eric shirtless, I don't find myself worrying. I trust Eric doesn't mean it that way, and there isn't a single spark of sexual tension as he holds me against him. I can see the trust in his eyes. Or maybe
it's something else, for I know my eyes must reflect helplessness, rather than trust.
After the water runs clear, somewhere in between my mind drifting off he must've turned the shower off and pulls me onto a seat while he drapes a warm, black towel over me, lightly pressing over my body. I don't even realise whenheleavesthe
room, until he comes back in a familiar dark t-shirt and boxer briefs, and helps me into an almost identical t-shirt.
This time he just lifts me into his arms, and sits me back down on the bed.
I wait for the scolding, but all I can see is the tightening of his jaw and his hands shaking as they're tense whilst ripping open a large anti-bacterial wipe.
"It's not deep enough to need alcohol." He murmurs softly as I look down at the surface cuts, no longer any blood hiding the dark bruising covering almost my entire abdomen.
Eric's glaring at the wounds, but quickly covers them with a large dressing before taping over them, lightly applying pressure.
"How's your head?" He asks, and as I open my mouth to form words, my voice is croaky, and the words are unrecognisable more a few moments until I remember how to speak.
"its..argh…ugh… aching. The painkillers will kick in soon." I mumble.
"You weren't injured anywhere else?" He asks, taking my hands and checking my arms, my knuckles andelbowsslightly red.
"No, I… I only punch-ed properlyonce…a… and it wasn't hard, just to… to put him out for a little… so… my knuckles aren't split." I tell him. He seems to pause, hesitate, before meeting my eyes for a second then looking away. He's hiding something.
"What is it? Have you seen their injuries?" I ask, and he looks back at me, supposedly realising I'll know if he lies.
"I saw the footage. Stiff and dumb skull should be in the infirmary now… but Kasper put himself in the chasm." He tells me, no remorse in his eyes as he waits for my reaction.
Kasper's dead? He killed himself?
I sigh, before giving Eric my opinion.
"And after I decided not to break his neck for the second time…" I say, briefly remembering the momentary bloodlust, in that moment I had my legs around his neck. "I guess it keeps me from having a kill on my record."
He stares at me, his eyes softer, and for a second I doubt whether the ruthless leader I know really is ruthless. But then he reaches up with a hand to cup my cheek with a smile.
"You need to rest." He says curtly, and I frown to myself.
"My mind's too… I'm thinking too much." I admit to him, my words still slurry. Otherwise I would've been out as soon as I collapsed on the bed.
He doesn't reply as he pulls my body down for me as I still seem to be unable to command my own limbs. He holds his body over mine as he reaches above the bedframe, and whispers to me.
"Then stop thinking."
It's an order, as if we're just in the training block and he's telling me to throw another set, and then he flicks a light switch on the wall, and next thing I know, a soft cover is pulled over my body, and I cocoon myself into darkness.
I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! What do people think of the Eric POV? Was it in character, cos as a girl I attempted to make it look like a guy's thoughts whilst drinking, plus there was Eric's thoughts ABOUT AVERY while he was drinking, and I tried, I really tried not to make it sappy. But it was hard, since I wanted it to convey his feelings that Avery is special to him. I made a decision about it being rated M- if I end up writing a mature scene, I will, but I have no idea when! Despite this chapter basically having a naked shower scene, I don't think it's mature as in my mind Eric was so angry and possessive over her getting hurt, and Avery was too exhausted/drunk/you know that kind of mushy brain dead situation to get flustered, therefore not M rated. Anyway, next chapter is going to be the dtr we've been building to, but I'm not sure how long that will take so who knows how far we'll get! Oh yeah, Kasper died, I kind of just worked out I didn't want him interfering with the storyline anymore so killed him off. Sorry if anyone (LOL) liked his character ≈≈≈(›o‹)≈≈≈
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, review as always!