A/N Okay, here's chapter 9.

Reminder: I don't own Divergent! Veronica Roth does. I only own Denise and Talia, and plot twist.

Chapter 9

"GET UP!" Eric screams to us. I jump and fall out of my bed, only to fall on the floor. Smooth, Tris.

Blushing, I get up and quickly dress for the day. Fights are today. Joy. I know I don't have the necessary skill to beat most of the people here.

My opponent is Peter. Crap. I'm going to die. I can only imagine that Eric made the opponent list.

The fights go quickly. I have seen so many people get knocked unconscious. I know I'll be the one on the floor. Better to accept it.

Eric starts to explain how the fights work.

"You will fight using the skill you learned yesterday. You will fight until one of you cannot continue."

"Under Dauntless rules, one of you could also concede." Four interjects.

"Under the old rules." Eric corrects Four. "Under the new rules, no one concedes."

"A brave man acknowledges the strength of others." Four replies.

"A brave man never surrenders." Eric says.

I feel like I'm looking at two kinds of Dauntless. The ruthless kind, and the honorable kind.

"Tris and Peter." Four says. "You're up." He sounds like he doesn't want to witness this fight. He almost looks sick. That makes two of us.

I walk up and step into the ring.

Tobias told me to find my opponent's weakness, and to use it to my advantage.

"Go!" Eric commands.

We circle the ring for a minute or two.

"You know, I think I've figured out who you really are." Peter says.

I tense for a second. God, how many people know?! I punch his ribcage, and he grimaces.

"I think I know who gave you that information," I say, carefully. "And whoever it was will pay."

"You're an idiot. You won't do anything." Peter scoffs.

"People always say that to me." I reply. "They think that because I'm a girl, or a Stiff, that I can't possibly be cruel. But they're wrong." I uppercut his stomach. "A certain someone threatened to kill my best friend. You know what I did to him?"

Peter shook his head. "No."

"I threw a knife at him. I told him that if he murdered his son, he would regret it. Funny how my friend is still alive today."

I remember that particular night. Marcus was wasted. I remember throwing that knife. I remember how it went right where I intended: a centimeter away from his head. He took me seriously after that.

"Wait a second!" Peter says. "I definitely know who you are now. Should I tell them? Get everything out in the open?"

I launch myself at him, taking him down. I position myself on top of him the way Tobias taught me, to keep him on the floor. He struggles, trying to use sheer force to get me off. I swing at him again and again. I don't feel anything. I am empty, alone, nothing.

I finally hear Peter screaming. I pause and look at my handiwork. Then I lean really close to his face.

"If you tell anyone my name and why I left, or my friend's name and why he left, I will destroy you." I whisper. "I will end you. You will cease to exist. Do you understand?"

He barely nods. I release him and walk over to Christina. I need to figure out why Peter would know these things. Then it hits me. It's the articles. He knows the articles.

"Oh my God." She says. "That was AWESOME!" People are laughing and saying things like, "Don't mess with Tris!" To which I reply,

"Don't piss me off!"

We are hanging out in the dorms and it's getting depressing. The topic of parents came up. I miss my family terribly. I think all my friends miss their families as well.

"This is getting depressing." Christina says suddenly. "You know, we should do something. We should really become Dauntless. Let's get tattoos!"

I laugh, hesitating but deciding to do it with Christina. "Okay! Let's do it!"

The tattoo shop is mostly empty. I walk around with my friends and look at the tattoos. A pattern of birds on a back wall catches my eye.

"They're ravens." A voice says behind me. Tori.

"They're nice." I reply. I hadn't thought that I would get a tattoo but looking at the bird made me suddenly want to get one. "I would like three of these."

"Sure thing." She replied.

I sat in the chair at her station and tried to relax.

"Where do you want to have it?" Tori asked me while she readied the equipment.

I thought for a little bit and decided to get them on by collar bone, as if they were flying towards my heart like a reminder that if I want to learn to fly my heart will have to be in it too.

An idea occurred to me that I wanted Tobias to be represented on my body, too. I decided that the best place would be my wrist. His name. I wanted it to be abstract, so one could not read it easily. I told Tori this and she suggested that we take a raven and make it out of his name. I could see it in my head.

"Perfect." I whisper. "That's just what I need."

Tori leaned over me and carefully began to apply the ink. Pain seared through my skin but it wasn't anywhere near as intense as the pain that Marcus had inflicted on me.

The tattoos turned out wonderfully.

Christina took a turn in the chair after me and got the Dauntless flames on the back of her shoulder. After we were both done she looked over at me.

"Let's go shopping." She said. "With a little dazzle you could sweep any guy you want off their feet."

I just laugh, but I follow her and let her dress me up. She even put makeup on me! She draped pounds of jewelry over me, but I knew most of it would stay in the store. One bracelet that Christina wrapped around my wrist, I decided to keep. It was a wide black leather band with Dauntless flames etched into it in red ink. It was wide enough that it covered most of my wrist.

'Perfect,' I think. 'This will cover my wrist tattoo.'

We head to dinner. I am so hungry.

We talk about the fights, something I don't care to talk about.

"Tris! Did you know that you knocked Peter's tooth out?" Will asked.

"And broke his nose." Four said, taking a seat next to me. He turned and started talking to a boy next to him.

"Oh my God." I whisper. "I'm an awful human being."

"Why do you say that?" Christina asks. Four and his friend are watching me intently.

"I broke Peter's nose! I knocked his tooth out! That's not okay!" I'm freaking out.

"Tris, it's okay." Christina says.

"Are you okay?" Four's friend asks. "I'm Zeke, by the way." He adds. Four shakes his head a little.

"You need my help yet?" He asks.

"No." I reply. Why am I coming apart now? Why not when it was happening? Because of the fight. Because I don't want to be like Marcus.

"I'll be fine. I'm not like him. I'm okay." I comfort myself.

Four is looking at me, trying to figure out my reply, why I'm being so evasive. Why I'm not opening up and talking to him. I look away, trying to avoid his piercing gaze. Christina comes to my rescue by elbowing me and asking,

"Are you going to eat your dinner or are you going to just wait for breakfast?"

I look down at my food and then back at her.

"I'm not hungry" I reply, standing up. Four reaches out to grab my arm, but I jerk away and walk out.

I wander the Pit for a while, talking to few people who compliment my fight. How does everyone know about that? I turn down a hallway at random, to continue my wandering.

A hand grabs my wrist.

A/N Oooh! Who do you think grabed Tris's arm? I know, I'm cruel... Muahahahaha!

Be brave, Initiates! Don't panic. 4