Parker's POV
I wake up on some bed that is really uncomfortable and my head is pounding. I open my eyes but I shut them quickly for the lights in the room are blindingly bright. After a few seconds I try to open my eyes again, but slowly this time so my eyes can get used to the light. Once I am used to the brightness of the lights, I attempt to look around me but I am on my back so I cannot see much, but from what I can see I must be in the Dauntless hospital. The hospital bed I am lying on is made purely out of metal, with just a thin mattress for me to lie on, which explains why it is so uncomfortable. I try to sit up more in the bed, not liking the fact I am stuck facing upward and can't really see anything, but as I put pressure on my hands to lift myself up I am suddenly reminded why I'm in here in the first place and groan at the pain that shoots through my arms, my right arm in particular, and I fall back on to my back. I soon see a nurse rush up to my bed, shaking her head and holding a paper cup and bottle of water, "you don't want to do that dear" she tells me sympathetically, "you've broken your right wrist , and have badly injured your left hand, so you should put as little pressure on your wrist as possible", she then gives me the cup of pills, which I put pour into the mouth before taking the bottle of water from her and swallowing the painkillers. She takes the empty bottle and cup from me and goes to inform one of my instructors that I was awake.
About five minutes the nurse returns, and I am flooded with relief that it is Eric with her and not my brother. She tells me that I am free to leave but if I feel any sort of pain I should come back immediately, she then orders Eric that in no way should I be fighting for at least one week. Eric doesn't say anything, he just nods his head stiffly. He helps me out of the hospital bed, and directs me out of the infirmary, we walk for a bit until I realise we are not headed towards the training room, and when we approach the chasm I realise we are headed to the mess hall, and because I have no clue what time it is I don't know if Tobias is in there, Eric seems to notice my apprehension and tells me "Don't worry, your brother is not in there, he is still with the other initiates in the training hall", I am about to ask him why he isn't just taking me there if they are still training but before I can say anything he answers my unanswered question, "we are going to the mess hall because you haven't eaten anything since you got here and by looks of it possibly longer than that". As we approach the Pit I see that it is absolutely packed, it is as if half of Dauntless is there, it really is the centre of life at Dauntless. I pause again, not seeing how I am going to get through all these people without whacking my arm on something or someone. However, this dilemma is quickly solved when Eric places his hand on the small of my back, steering me through the dense crowd and somehow I miraculously make it through.
We make our way into the mess hall, and go over to the food which is laid out buffet-style. Before I can even think about how I'm going to hold the tray let alone serve my food, I notice has gotten two trays and is piling food onto both of them, by the time he is finished serving the food onto the two trays, it looks as though there is enough food to feed about eight people on each tray, not that I am complaining, he was right I haven't eaten since I got here, I haven't eaten for at least 3 days. Eric carries both trays over to a nearby table before placing them down and sitting in front of one. I sit in the seat next to him, my cast making it difficult. I am about to start eating when I realise I have no clue how I am going to do so, using my right hand, which happens to be my dominant side, is out of the question as the black cast covering my arm prevents me from really moving my fingers in any way that is useful. But thankfully the cast only covers my lower arm and doesn't go over my elbow so I do have some mobility with my arm but not much. I decide only option is to attempt to eat with my left hand. It takes me several tries I manage to do so without making myself look an absolute fool and spilling it on me but to say it was difficult is a major understatement. After a while I start to get the hang of it, and I get more confident with eating using my left hand, but it is just my luck that just when I start to get used to the feeling of eating with my non-dominant hand I spill a spoonful of peas down myself. As I wipe the peas onto the floor I notice Eric is quietly laughing at me "Hey!" I say with mock hurt, "it is not easy you know, and I can't exactly use my right arm can I", I continue, waving the cast in front of his face. He doesn't say anything back, he just shakes his head at me, an amused smirk on his face. I refuse to eat anymore, I am completely full and I don't want to have any more food spill on me, so I wait patiently for Eric to finish his food. It suddenly downs on me I have no idea how long I was out for nor do I know what time it is now. I turn to Eric and am about to ask him how long I was out for, but before I can even open mouth he answers my question, "To answer your question it is nearly quarter past two, you were out for four hours", I look at him shocked, "how did you know what I was going to ask?" Once again he doesn't reply he just winks at me, yet another smirk on his face. I turn away from him and grumble for a bit until he is finished eating all his food. "Come on", he tells me a little while later, "I need to talk to your brother, and he will want to see you are still alive", he stands and I do too but much slower given my injuries. We leave the mess hall and get into the corridor, making our way towards the training room. I can't help but notice Eric's hand returns to my back as we walk, despite there being far fewer people around than before we ate.
After a short walk we arrive at the training room, Eric holds the door open for me so I go through, having to duck under his arm slightly, and go sit on the nearest bench avoiding my brother's gaze as much as possible. Thankfully the others are too busy practicing their punches to notice I've come in. I hear Eric and Tobias start to talk, they seem to be talking about whether the others are ready to start the fights and from what a can pick up they are not. Eric and Tobias keep on talking but I cannot hear anything and I feel like they have purposely lowered their voices, especially since they both keep glancing at me. The two continue to talk for a few minutes before Eric comes over towards me. "Seeing as this lot aren't going to be ready to start fighting anytime soon, and you aren't allowed to do anything to worsen your wrist, we are going to go for the run this lot went on when you were in the hospital. After all, we can't have you sitting round here not doing anything now can we?" I readily agree, anything to get away from Tobias' guilty glances, but even then, I have always loved to run, unfortunately I didn't get to do it often because of Marcus. I follow him out the room, and we almost get there without any interruptions but just as I reach the door, I hear somebody call out in protest, I see that it is Brent, "Wait why does she get special treatment, how come we have to be stuck in here practicing some dumb shit" I freeze, not liking all the attention on me, I see Tobias open his mouth to say something but Eric beats him to it, "Are you questioning a me initiate" Eric yells at Brent.
"Yeah I am", Brent responds, I shake my head in disbelief, I can't quite believe he is stupid enough to question a Dauntless leader, let alone Eric, who everyone knows is the most ruthless leader of them all , when he hasn't even passed initiation.
Eric doesn't say anything for a while, he just stands looking at Brent, "Okay", he says after a while, "Everybody follow me!", the rest of them walk over to where me and Eric, we all follow him, I notice that he has Brent next to him, but I also notice that he isn't saying anything which cannot be a good thing as ruthless people tend to be even worse when quiet. We haven't walked very far when I hear the rushing of water and I realise we are heading towards the Chasm, when we arrive Eric and Brent are basically side by side, then before I can even blink Eric is holding onto the barrier of the bridge with one hand and onto the Brent's wrist with the other, who is now hanging over the Chasm. I can hardly watch as Brent clutches to the ledge with one hand. "Grab the rail" Eric tells Brent, "...or don't" and he lets go of his arm. Brent barely manages to grab the ledge in time. "You have three options, hang there and I will forget your insolence… fall and die… or give up, but if you give up you are out" Brent is clearly smart enough to shut his mouth and just take his punishment. Although I think he deserves what he is getting, I can't help worry that Brent isn't going to be able to hang on. It's not that I fall sorry for him but I don't exactly want to watch a second person fall to their death in less than a week, and I don't know how long Eric is going to have him hang there, it is not like the ledge is very easy to hold onto. We are stood there for a good ten minutes before Eric calls time, I watch as Drew and Peter go and help him up, he is soaked from all the water of the chasm that sprayed on him. "Now get back in that training room, or so help me" Eric shouted at him. I turn to watch Brent scurry back the way we came, the rest of them following.
Once the others have gone, I follow Eric out of the Dauntless compound, once we are outside, we break into a jog. Due to Dauntless being mainly underground, there is a quite steep hill we have to climb in order to get to street level. When we get to the streets, Eric starts to talk, "You really should talk to your brother, you know?" he mutters, I turn to him shocked.
"Since when did you care about my brother, I thought you guys hated each other?" I ask him not sure why he is saying this. I hear him sigh heavily before responding,
"While yes, we are in no way best buds, I do not hate your brother." He pauses for a while seemingly not knowing how to put his thoughts into words, "I didn't like your brother during our initiation, he was my biggest rival, he was the only person who beat me in stage one, and in the final rankings he was first and I was second. The only reason I am a leader is because he didn't take it." I look at him shocked,
"So you hated my brother just because he ranked hire than you at the end of initiation?" I ask him, not quite believing what I am hearing.
"What can I say? I was young, I had grown up the youngest of five boys, I felt like this had been my time to shine, to prove my ability and worth, and being the naïve teenager I was I felt Four was taking away my opportunity. I was worried if I didn't do the best in the class, I would just be forgotten, overlooked by everyone, just like I had been the whole of my childhood."
"I'm sorry" I tell him unsure how to respond to the supposed most feared Dauntless leader telling me about his upbringing.
"Don't be, my childhood looks saint-like compared to yours", he mutters
"Yeah" I sigh, not liking to be reminded of my growing up. "But it doesn't mean you had the best childhood either"
He doesn't saying any for a while and when he does he changes the subject back to why I need to talk to my brother "As I was saying, I don't hate your brother anymore, we have come to understand our differences and are now civil towards each other, especially when I found out about his, your childhood. Which is why you need to talk to him, he doesn't want you hating him, and he feels so guilty for you breaking your arm."
"But that wasn't his fault, I hit that wall out of anger-fuelled stupidity", I interrupt.
"I know that, but he still feels bad for saying those things to you and believes that had he been more careful with what he was saying, you wouldn't have gotten that angry and you know deep down that it is true."
"Possibly, but still I didn't help things did I? Jumping to conclusions like I did and ignoring him as well was not the smartest thing in the world to do, but I don't know if I can, I feel to guilty"
"Well you should at least think about it" Eric tells me, slowing his jog down into a walk. I mumble that he is probably right, I notice we are back at the compound already, I am about to ask Eric how long we were out for when he turns to me and says, "We were out for an hour".
"But how? I didn't even ask you anything", he doesn't say anything and just shakes his head an amused smirk on his face again and I can't help but laugh.
We make our way towards the training room and when we arrive Eric holds the door open for me, before he goes to talk to Tobias. They talk for a few minutes, while I go sit on one of the nearby benches, before Eric calls everyone to come stand around the 'ring', I don't know if he means me to but not wanting to miss out I make my way over too. The 'ring' doesn't look anything like a ring, in fact it is merely a slightly raised canvas square. "Right, we are going to start the fights, this is the primary thing you are going to be ranked on in Stage one, so fight hard" He is about to start calling the first pair to fight when someone asks a question, "What are we ranked for?" I see Eric's eyes light up, which I pretty sure cannot mean anything good, "two reasons, first, the rankings decide which job you get after initiation, there are only a few desirable jobs so you'll want to rank high. And the second is that only the top ten initiates get to become full Dauntless members, the rest of you will get cut." I see out of the corner of my eye that some of the others are looking very worried, a few look like they are about to cry, but I continue looking at Eric, I know I am going to get through this initiation I am sure of it. I see Peter ask another question, "What happens if we get cut?"
"Well there's no going back to your families so you live factionless" Eric tells us. Most others seem out raged by what we've just be told and make is known.
"Why didn't we know that?" someone asks, "We should have been told"
"Why, out of fear? Cause if that's the case, you might as well get out now. If you're really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail, alright, you chose us… now we get to choose you." Eric tells us before calling out the names for the first fight, "Edward, Brent, in the ring" I watch as Edward and Brent cautiously walk towards the mats, "how long do we fight for?" I hear Edward ask.
"Until one of you can't continue" Eric tells them.
"Or one of you could concede", I hear Tobias add.
"According to the old rules, new rules, no one concedes", Eric says, and I watch as he and Tobias have some sort of standoff, obviously some of that rivalry is still there, but old habits die hard I guess. Both Edward and Brent just look at them, neither too sure as to if they should start. "Go!" Eric tells them impatiently, motioning forward with his arm. The fight didn't last long, Brent got a few punches in at the start but it was clear Edward was the better fighter and Brent was out cold after about six minutes. Once he was down, Edward and Tobias took him down to the infirmary, as Eric went over to the board and circled Edward's name, declaring him the winner. "Christina and Molly" I hear Eric call out, both girls make their way to the ring quickly. Molly is much bigger than Christina and has a height advantage of about a head and a half, but she was also very heavy on her feet whereas Christina was quite agile. This fight lasted much longer than the first and it was clear Eric was getting annoyed. After 10 minutes of circling each other with a few punches here and there, Eric shouted at them again, "Stop playing with each other!" This was apparently all Molly needed to hear, and within a couple minutes Christina was being taken to the infirmary. Next up was Will and Al, there match was quicker, but no less pathetic. They each got a few hits in, before Will was knocked out from one punch to the side of the head. It was clear both Eric and Tobias were getting very bored, I'm not surprised I am too, it taken about twenty five minutes to get through three fights, and those that were quick were only so because the loser couldn't put up much of a fight. This didn't change for the last to fights Drew didn't even land a single punch before Peter had him out cold. The fight between Myra and Tris was seemingly the icing to this disastrous metaphor of a cake. Neither girl wanted to hurt the other, but I doubt either of them were strong enough to do all that much damage in the first place. It isn't that I don't like Tris, in fact, she was very kind, but surely she would have known she would have to fight before she joined Dauntless. About ten minutes into the fight, it was clear neither of them was going to make a move, so Eric just called of the match, "that's enough for today, he told those that were still in the room after nearly half of us being in the infirmary, and when nobody seemed to move, Eric got very angry. "Everybody out now!" he shouted.
Whilst I'm waiting for the rest of the initiates to leave before talking to my brother, I watch Eric stalk over to the rows of punching bags and start taking them down, it is clear he is not happy as he aggressively wrenches the bags from the fastenings on the ceiling and drops them on the floor, not caring for the loud noises.
"Can we talk?" I ask Tobias
"Look I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said what I did, and I didn't mean it. I was, I was just angry with myself and I took that out on you and I shouldn't have. And I'm sorry about your," He tells me but I interrupt him before he can even finish his sentence.
"Don't say it, me breaking my wrist was in no way your fault." I see him about to disagree, "No I mean it, and you didn't break my wrist did you. It was my fault ok? You may have said some stupid things, which I accept your apology for, but I also didn't help, jumping to conclusions and not letting you explain yourself. So why don't we put this whole fiasco behind us and just get on from now one yeah?" he nods in agreeance before pulling me in for a hug, being mindful of my arm.
Well there's another chapter for you, i am so sorry it has been so long since an update, i just havent been up to writing recently and then i had to go on a big family holiday, so i couldnt bring my laptop with me. i hope to get some sort of schedule of when i will update, but school is extremely hectic and mental health wise i havent been great but i will try once i get back into the swing of things.
~depressedintrovert~