Chapter 5
It's been two years since mom started to train me for dauntless and let me tell you it was not all fun and games. I thought my mom would go easy on me at first but I was wrong… she kicked my ass and I don't just mean figuratively either. I can still remember that first night of training it was the most gratifying and terrifying experience ever at the point in my life…
-Flashback-
So far it has been a long day filled with many surprises I think the most shocking though was when my dad said okay to me leaving I thought hell would have to freeze over before he did that but I'm glad I was wrong. It about 9:45 so I decide to change into the clothes that my mom gave me I put on a pair of shorts, the sports bra although I don't know why I need one I'm as flat as a board no matter what Tobias says, then a t-shirt I don't think I'm quite ready for the tank top and lastly the combat boots which feel like they were made for my feet. At this moment I'm glad I don't have a mirror to look into I'm afraid to know what I look like in these clothes. I then think of my father and brother seeing me in them which scares me even more so I decide to put on my abnegation jacket over the dauntless clothes that way if I run in to either of them they don't see me dressed like this.
I make my way downstairs to the basement and find my mom already down there dressed similarly to me except she choose to wear the tank top standing next to her is my father smiling at me as I come down the stairs. My mother looks at me with a confused look and then asks "Beatrice I hope you aren't planning on wearing that jacket while training I gave you those clothes for a reason"
I look at my parents then back down to the floor "I'm wearing them but I didn't want dad to see me in them and be disappointed in me and I don't want Caleb to see me in them because then he would not only be disappointed but he would also ask a bunch of questions even though we're not supposed to but I think that rule tends to fly out the window when it comes to an older brother I ju…"
As I'm rambling on my dad walks to me and grabs my shoulders "Beatrice…" I just continue to talk "Beatrice…" I still don't notice until he says the one name that no one knows or uses except for Tobias "Tris" this catches my attention immediately and I shut up and look into his eyes the eyes that are the same color as mine and in them I see no disappointment just love and acceptance, the acceptance I thought I would never get from him even after the conversation we had before dinner.
"What did you just say?" I ask still shocked but still calm
He looks at me and smiles "I called you Tris, and I know it's what Tobias calls you when he thinks no one can hear you two but I've heard it on more than one occasion."
I'm still in shock so all I can manage to say is "Oh…" but as I'm standing here, thinking that I hope that in two years he has picked up the ability to whisper better.
"Now back to the situation at hand, Beatrice I am not disappointed in you at all. You've done nothing to warrant disappointment you came to your mother and told her what you wanted and needed and because we both love you we agreed to help you succeed in the place you want to live your life. We would be awful parents if we didn't help you reach your goals and dreams even if in the end we will miss you terribly. So why don't you take the jacket off and go train with your mother. He hugs me again and smiles at me before heading to the stairs but before he takes a step he turns around and says "As far as Caleb is concerned you could always bring up the fact that he has about 20 books hidden behind the headboard of his bed as well as underneath that he thinks we know nothing about. I swear you kids think I don't know anything." He smirks at me and then heads upstairs for bed.
I take my jacket off and look at my mom she smiles at me
"Alright now that we got that out of the way let's get started tonight we are going to work with the punching bag. I am going to show you how to punch and kick the most effective way for your body to get the best outcome when it comes to fighting." We walk towards the punching bag she then shows me different ways to throw punches and how to kick without falling backwards like I did the first couple of try's which my mom laughed at. We spend a good 2 hours training with the bag after she sends me upstairs to take a shower and get some sleep.
-End Flashback-
I still remember waking up that morning every muscle in my body hurt even muscles I didn't even know I had. It was like that for the first two months but the reward definitely paid off in the long run I'm stronger and faster than I ever thought possible. Mom solely taught me about fighting and the different techniques for the first 3 months. I remember the day she decided to move to one of the other stations in the basement…
-Flashback-
Last night me and mom fought each other and it was the first time I was able to beat her in under 3 minutes. After dinner she told me she had a surprise for training and to meet her in the basement at our normal time which is now 9pm because I'm back in school. At 8:30 after finishing my homework for school I get dressed and head to the basement in the last three months I've gotten much more confident about my body to the point where I'm able to wear a tank top. I know that doesn't sound like a big difference but if you look at it this way it took me a good month before I stopped wearing my jacket on my way downstairs of course the night I decide to forgo the jacket my brother comes out of his room and yells at me. In response I called him a hypocrite because of the books he's hiding, since then things have been tense but my brother and I haven't been close since I became friends with Tobias.
I walk down to the basement and look at the clock ad realize that I'm early so I deiced to work the bag until my mom comes down. I wrap my hands and start hitting the bag over and over again until some clears their throat I look up and it's my mom unfortunately I've created so much momentum from hitting the bag that when it comes swinging back it knocks me flat on my ass, that's a first. I'm sitting on the floor shocked while my mom is laughing so hard that she doubled over and crying seeing this causes me to laugh just as hard even though my ass is killing me. A few minutes later she walks over and helps me up.
"Are you alright?" She asks still chuckling
"Yeah I'm alright I think, remind me to pay more attention when doing that next time." I tell her while I am also chuckling with her.
"Will do, so you ready for the surprise Beatrice?"
"Yes I'm ready mom"
"Great, tonight you are going to learn how to throw knives you should pick it up pretty quickly. We're throwing knives first because it will help with the aim that you're going to need when you learn how to shoot a gun."
We walk over to the knife throwing station and she picks up three knives she then explains how to hold the knife and how to position my body she then shows me the arm movement for throwing. When she's done explaining she throws all three knives in succession all three hitting the target, I wonder how long it's going to take me to learn how to do that. She retrieves the knives and then hands them over to me, I take the knives and move to wear she was standing. I stand the way she told me to I then take the first knife and practice the arm movement over and over for the first 20 minutes. Once I feel I have the arm movement down I repeat it again but this time I release the knife.
"Well I'll be damned" my mom says with a stunned expression on her face.
"I can't believe it stuck on the first throw let alone that close to the center of the target. Did it stick the first try for you too?" I ask her shocked
"No it didn't it and hour for me to get it to stick and another week of practicing with my brother before it landed in the center. Throw the other two and if they also land that close I'll tell you who the only other person I know did that their first time throwing a knife." She still looks shocked but at the same time you can see that she's proud of me which is rare except for when we're down in this basement but that's cause when we're down here we aren't abnegation we're dauntless.
I throw the last two knives the first knife hits about the same spot that the original sits however the second one lands dead center, at the moment you could knock me over with a feather. All I manage to spit out is "wow…" I look over to my mom and she's beaming with pride.
"That skill my darling daughter you get from your uncle. When we were kids he was the first person to throw the knife and it land dead center on the target. My mother was so shocked that she had him throw five knives one right after the other all of them landed in the center. Since then he used to train the initiates I don't know if he still does or not. I suppose you'll find out when you get there. Now there's something else I want you to do go stand in front of the target please."
I look at my mother like she's nuts but I do what she asks of me; as soon as I'm standing in front of it a knife comes whizzing towards me I flinch which leaves me with a huge gash on my right arm that's bleeding profusely.
"MOM!" I scream at her my arm is still bleeding and it the gash is burning with pain when I look at it I can already tell it's going to need stitches.
"Sorry Beatrice but you need to learn to both stay still and not flinch when standing there."
Is she crazy? "Are you telling me that I should just expect to have knives thrown at me during initiation?"
She looks me dead in the eye "Yes, you can depending on who your instructor is. Honey not everyone in dauntless is going to be kind or gentle. Being part of dauntless means having an affinity to violence most use this to protect like they're supposed to but others use theirs for other reasons that most would disagree with. However you also need to understand that just because you test results end up dauntless doesn't mean that you don't have traits from other factions for example your father used to be erudite but when his test results showed abnegation it doesn't mean that his intelligence no longer exists he just uses his ability in a different way than he would if he stayed in erudite. Now why don't we patch you up and then go to bed we'll start practice not flinching tomorrow."
It takes me a week to not flinch and finally we move on to guns and I'm excited. I make my way down to the basement to find my mother setting up the gun I'm going to learn with.
"Hello Beatrice ready to fire a weapon?"
"Yes ma'am"
"You are going to learn how to shoot two different types of guns first a handgun and then finally a rifle. The reason you're going to learn to use the handgun properly is so you can get used to having a weapon in your hand that's not a knife. I'll show you how to stand and hold it and then I'll fire a few rounds just to let you know this is going to be loud I wasn't able to get any ear-plugs from work." She proceeds to talk me through how to stand and hold it facing a target. She then fires the handgun and it is louder than I expected it to be. After she explains a little bit more on safety and how to reload; I take the gun a line up and front of the target make sure to hold the gun up properly and take a breath, breath out… breath in… FIRES… breathe out. Damn I miss the center but not too badly for a first try.
"Not bad Beatrice you'll get better with practice"
"Thank you mom"
-End Flashback-
It takes me a little while to get used to handling a gun but know I can successfully make kill shots with both guns. In a week it'll be time to take my place in dauntless with Tobias however it will also be the last time that I'll be allowed to freely spend time with my family its bittersweet thought, stupid faction before blood.
A/N- Hey everyone thank you for waiting for this update I know it's been a really long time. I broke my hand 6 months ago and since then it's been hard to type anything without pain. Updates will unfortunately be sporadic. Please read and review to let me know what you think.