Author's note: This chapter may have more cursing and some other material that is a bit more graphic than previous ones. So just as a forewarning. Also, I will try and update the story every Tuesday and Friday, but life is mischievous so we will just play it by ear for now :) Enjoy.
1. Kathryn 2. Robbie 3. Virgil 4. Vikki 5. Durro 6. Nikki
7. Sido 8. Alexandria 9. Mattie 10. JD 11. Nicole 12. Artemis 13. Isabelle
14. Warsan 15. Avicus 16. Morgan 17. Mark 18. Aliyah 19. Flot
20. Axel 21. Aldo 22. Jordan 23. Maxine 24. Jay 25. Danielle
26. Anne 27. Shelby 28. Abigail 29. Conner 30. Levy 31. Mia 32. Bruce
The group of four stood at the scoreboard and looked at the results from the other day's matches and training. Isabelle couldn't help but smile in relief, feeling the wave of anxiety that had mustered up in her stomach all night long disappear. Although, she was a little upset when she saw Warsan's results; he was still above the line, but so was Avicus; both boys were just above the cut-off.
Isabelle pursed her lips as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, her eyes glued to the screen as if waiting for the results to change—waiting to see Avicus' status lowered. It never did though, so the brunette huffed and turned to her friends.
"You fell quite a bit out of the lead, but at least you're still above the cut-off." Nikki said, trying to reassure Warsan.
He nodded as he stretched out his arms. "I let my own cockiness get the best of me; it won't happen again."
"Last night's sleep must've knocked some sense into your head," Mattie noted, "good to know."
"Shut up," he snapped quietly, "come the next match, I will be victor and regain my rank."
Isabelle chuckled to herself, glad to see that her friend was back to normal; hopefully the situation would make the boy want to train harder, train better, so that he wouldn't make the same mistake again in the ring. The last thing Isabelle wanted was to see one of her friends leave Dauntless and end up factionless. Her friends were good people—smart, kind, funny, and they all liked her despite her more introverted demeanor—something she couldn't say for the people she grew up with in Erudite. It wasn't that they were mean to the girl, not at all. Isabelle just felt that she didn't belong with the other Erudite children. With each passing day, Isabelle was proud to say that she felt herself becoming more and more comfortable and confident with being in a faction that held bravery above all other characteristics.
Eric's words from the other night echoed through her head. She looks more Dauntless every time I see her. Isabelle couldn't help but smile, a light blush reappearing on her cheeks as she looked down at her feet. The girl was glad that she was proving Eric wrong, even if it was only a little bit at a time. She wanted to belong here. She wanted to be Dauntless.
"What are you smiling about?" Mattie asked as she stepped closer to her friend, readjusting the pins to keep her bangs out of her face.
The grin on Isabelle's face fell. She glanced up at her friend, trying to conceal her feelings. "It's nothing—I'm just happy that I've moved up that far on the scoreboard."
Mattie examined Isabelle's face, her eyes narrowing slightly as she watched for any changing expressions that would prove her wrong, but when Isabelle remained stoic, Mattie nodded, "I'm glad you did too. All we have to do is worry about Warsan at the moment."
"I heard that!" the boy snapped, causing the girls to laugh.
Eric and Four stormed in suddenly, causing the group of kids to look their way. Isabelle noticed the newly added tattoos on Eric's arms as he brushed past her and her friends. "Alright, listen up," it was Four who spoke as the two instructors stood near the main ring, "we'll be doing some more knife practicing this morning as some of you are still in need of improvement, so this is your chance. Later on you'll be practicing on your own in the ring and at the punching bags while Eric and I supervise and lend helping hands to those who need it."
"But first," Eric intervened, "give us ten laps."
The group of initiates didn't wait to be told to start, they just simultaneously started their laps around the inside of the warehouse where they had been training for the past couple of weeks. Three done, seven to go, although Isabelle wasn't completely sure how long the physical stage of training lasted. She knew that the last stage of training—the mental—was a single test that would determine if an initiate was truly Dauntless… or not.
Nikki ran with Mattie as Isabelle kept her strong pace with Warsan. The initiates had been running each day since the beginning of training, so slowly and steadily Isabelle had been improving her cardiovascular health. She hated running, but was grateful that it was apart of their everyday training. The other three didn't seem to mind it as they ran almost effortlessly.
The ten laps were over in no time, with only a few stragglers behind. Mia was amongst one of them. As the four took a lap to cool down, Isabelle couldn't help her curious mind.
"Why do you think Mia transferred to Dauntless? I mean, she doesn't seem to fit in at all, so what made her choose this faction? Isn't she from Abnegation? Why didn't she just stay there?"
Warsan looked over at the brunette with a confused look on his face as he raised his arms above his head to improve his breathing, "Haven't you heard the rumors about them, the Abnegation?"
Isabelle shook her head. Obviously not, she thought.
"Those people beat their kids," Nikki chimed in.
"You're lying," Isabelle breathed out.
Nikki shook her head, "No seriously! A few years back this one guy, I don't remember his name, beat his kids their entire lives. He threatened them to stay with him in Abnegation when it came time for them to go to the choosing ceremony. And they did."
"It's true," Warsan agreed, "I've heard a couple of instances where the parents of Abnegation kids beat them and threaten them to stay with the family. Everyone else above our own selfish needs, what a way to guilt-trip them, huh?"
"So what about Mia?" Isabelle inquired.
Mattie shrugged her shoulders, "I heard she left to get away from her abusive parents. Why she chose Dauntless, I'll never know, but I figured she just wanted out."
Isabelle lowered her eyes as she turned her head away, a sad expression adorned her face. "I don't blame her. Why stay somewhere you're not wanted?"
After they had finished their cool-down lap, the four made their way to the back of the warehouse were the knife training took place. Immediately the initiates started their training while Eric and Four came up from behind to watch. Isabelle took her position besides Nikki and Mattie and grabbed a hold of one of the knives, feeling the weight of it in her hand.
Isabelle looked up at the human-shaped target a few feet from her and examined it for a moment before she cocked her arm back and whipped her wrist forward, releasing the blade from her grasp. The knife barely made it into the inner circle in the middle of the target. Isabelle frowned, wishing to make a bullseye.
Isabelle took ahold of another knife, once again noticing the weight of it. She looked back at the target and took a deep breath before cocking her arm back and whipping her wrist forward. She missed the center target again, but was relatively closer than her first attempt. It wasn't until her fourth attempt that she finally hit the bullseye. Despite Eric scolding her before, Isabelle still used her Erudite ways of calculation and critical thinking to help her find the perfect way to throw the knife in order to increase her accuracy and precision at hitting the target.
Her other friends were nearly as good as Isabelle, but Nikki was the weakest in the sport than the others. She didn't seem to mind though, laughing at her mistakes and trying her best to improve. That's what Isabelle loved about the strawberry blonde, that she was able to see her mistakes and not worry about them, unlike herself. Nikki knew she was a top competitor, so a small flub here and there wouldn't hurt her chances at remaining above the cut-off line.
Halfway through knife-throwing, Isabelle over-heard Eric criticizing poor Mia about her technique while Four helped another initiate. Despite Eric being attractive, Isabelle couldn't help but think that he could be a huge asshole a majority of the time; of course, he was just doing his job—training the initiates so that only the best of the best could be bestowed the honor of joining Dauntless—but sometimes Isabelle thought that the blond leader took a little too much joy in causing others pain and humiliation.
As they continue to practice, Isabelle heard Avicus snicker and make a rude comment to Nikki who stood next to him. She scoffed loudly and told the boy to fuck off, causing Isabelle to smirk at her friends brashness; it seemed that Dauntless was brushing off on all of her friends.
Avicus didn't seem to mind her vulgar response and continued to talk to Nikki as they practiced. The way he spoke to her was as if he were a guy at a bar trying to win the affections of a girl who was just not interested—insisting and insisting that she talk to him, trying to get her attention and such. He then said something about her new tattoo as he reached out to lightly touch it with his fingertips. Nikki was about to lunge at the boy with knife in hand, but Isabelle was able to grab hold of her arm in the nick of time as Four looked over at the sudden commotion. Nikki settled down, lowering the knife before flinging it towards the target—it landed in the head of the target. Avicus smirked maliciously as he turned his attention back to practice. Isabelle watched out of the side of her eye to see Four whispering to Eric, but neither instructor looked towards the girl's direction. Good, she thought as she threw another knife at the target, we don't need anymore attention from them.
The initiates practiced their knife-throwing for another hour before they moved on to continue with their combative skills. Warsan practiced in the ring with Virgil, a boy that the former-Erudite found fellowship in; Warsan liked the girls and he would always be their friend, but the boy desired to find companionship with someone of the same-sex to talk about guy-things with. That, and he wanted to practice with the best of the transfers to improve his performance in the ring. Isabelle, Mattie, and Nikki on the other hand decided it was best to practice at the punching bags until lunch.
The entire day seemed to pass by quickly as everyone had entered the dining hall for dinner. Training went well. Isabelle had tried practicing some maneuvers to overtake her opponents by jumping on them and using her legs and weight to bring them down—something she had seen been done by a Dauntless guard when she was younger. Isabelle failed at the attempts the first couple of times, but near the end of the evening she felt pretty confident in her progress. Of course she wasn't even close at perfecting it, but she still had time to do so.
Virgil had invited Warsan to sit with him and Sido, so he told the girls that he wasn't going to join them for dinner. They smiled and allowed the boy to relish in his newly found friendship with the red-haired beauty. There were a few initiates absent from dinner, including a certain black-haired boy, to which Isabelle didn't seem to mind; Nikki hadn't shown up for dinner either when Robbie arrived, absent of his twin. He had a fresh bruise on his cheekbone and a nearly blackened left eye.
"What happened to you, Rob?" Mattie asked, cutting up her food with the fork and knife.
"Kathryn and I were paired up in matches today," he pointed at his swollen eye, "and this was the result."
"So where's Kathryn?"
Robbie smiled, taking a sip of his drink with pride, "I sent her ass to the infirmary with a dislocated shoulder and a few bruises."
Isabelle grinned at the blond boy, "looks like we might just make it through the bet, huh Robbie?"
He laughed and gave the brunette a fist bump, "in it to win it, baby." Robbie took a moment to look around, not noticing the dark-skinned boy or the strawberry blonde girl. "Where's Nikki and Warsan? Not in the infirmary too, I hope."
Mattie shook her head, "Warsan is over there with Virgil," she said as she pointed over at the boys.
Robbie placed a hand over his heart and made a cute face as he pursed his lips together. "Aw, making new friends. I'm so proud. And Nikki?"
"She said she was going to wash up before dinner; she wanted to head down to the tattoo parlor and talk to Tori about her job. She's really interested in Tori's line of work and hopes that, if she passes initiation, she could possibly work with Tori and Holland in the parlor."
Isabelle looked up at the clock at the opposite wall, narrowing her eyes slightly. "She's been gone a while, no? I mean, dinner's halfway over and a shower doesn't take that long."
"I suppose so," Mattie replied, taking a bite of her hamburger, "maybe she decided to skip dinner and just head down to the parlor before it was time for bed."
"Maybe she fell in the toilet," Robbie joked, getting a chuckle out of Mattie, but not the other girl.
The brunette thought over what Mattie had said, but she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about the situation. Isabelle shook her head as her stomach churned with knots, suddenly feeling very anxious. "I think I'm just going to go check up on her; make sure everything's okay."
"Alright, see ya later Is."
And with that the girl stood and disposed of her trash before leaving the dining hall, descending into the dimly lit hallways that led deep into the Dauntless compound. She remembered how the corridors were so confusing the first few times she ventured around the compound, but now it was like second nature. As she turned each corner, she would peer down others, looking for her strawberry blonde friend.
Isabelle admired the gray-white stone walls that kept the compound from crumbling in on itself, especially at the Pit and even so further down into the Chasm. She had never been there, the Chasm, and she hoped she never had to. Isabelle heard the stories of how some accidentally fell to their deaths while others willingly jumped into the darkness, ending their own lives. It was horrible to know that some threw themselves into the Chasm because they wanted to, or because they felt that they had no other choice. Isabelle felt goosebumps rise up on her skin.
Finally she had walked down the steps that led into the transfer's living quarters. Isabelle overheard the showers running, but there was no sign of Nikki near her bunk. She must be down at the tattoo parlor already, Isabelle thought as she turned to make her way back towards the stairs. As she walked back past the showers, Isabelle could've sworn she heard the sound of muffled crying. Finding it odd, the girl peeked into the shower just to ease her nerves.
As she peaked through the open doorway, Isabelle's eyes immediately landed on two figures at the far end of the showers, huddled in the corner as the steam lingered around them, making it a little hard for Isabelle to see exactly what was going on. She was able to make the figures out though—a tall boy with dark hair towering over a girl with blondish hair; the boy was fully dressed while the girl was left only in her undergarments. He had one of his large hands wrapped around the girl's neck while the other was positioned on her thigh to keep her in place as he was stationed in between her legs.
The girl was thrashing around underneath his grip, but she soon stopped as her blue eyes filled with fright and tears found Isabelle's—it was Nikki.
The man, still oblivious to the brunette who stood at the opposite end of the shower, laughed in the girl's face. "Tell me to fuck off now, you stupid bitch." Immediately Isabelle recognized the voice that could only belong to one black-haired initiate; it was Avicus.
Overwhelmed by anger, Isabelle rushed over to the boy and found herself behind him within seconds, unsure of where her stealthiness had come from. Before the boy could turn around, Isabelle had grabbed the arm that held Nikki's thigh thigh in place and swung it behind his back forcefully before she raised her leg and stepped down as hard as she could on the underside of his popliteal. The boy fell to his knees with a horrendous yelp of pain as he let go of Nikki's throat, freeing the frightened girl. She didn't waste any time to step out of his sight before she dashed out of the bathroom, running to get any of the leaders for help.
With Avicus on his knees, Isabelle reached out with her other hand and grabbed the boy by his hair, feeling it's coarseness as she held on tightly. She didn't hesitate to smash his face into the tiled wall. He groaned again in pain, still unaware of who his attacker was. Isabelle did this a few times, blood running down the wall and into the drain below. Tired of being the victim, Avicus threw his head back suddenly, knocking the girl in the nose. Isabelle stumbled back as she pinched her now bleeding nose, trying to stop the hemorrhaging.
The boy turned to see Isabelle standing before him, a sick smirk gracing his thin-lips. "Oh, big sister comes to the rescue, huh?" He mocked with a laugh, the blood interwoven between his teeth. "You're going to fucking regret this ever happened."
Isabelle snarled as she lunged for the boy, but the wet floors caused her to slip as she landed on her back, knocking the wind out of her suddenly. The male took the opportunity to straddled the girl, one leg on either side of her hips as he reached out and wrapped his hands around her neck. Isabelle's hands found themselves on his, trying to pry the pervert off of her, but he was too strong and the water from the shower above made it difficult for her to do so. Avicus' grip on her neck tightened, but the girl found enough strength to knee the boy it he groin.
Avicus toppled over on his side, cradling his crotch in his hands. Isabelle gasped for air, trying to take deep breaths to regain her senses. She then stood, towering over the dark-haired boy as the blood continuously trickled down her nose and her wet hair clung to her face. With all of her remaining strength, Isabelle kicked the boy mercilessly in the stomach, back, and face until Eric, Four, Ashur, Lauren, and Nikki arrived; the strawberry blonde was wrapped in a blanket. Ashur and Lauren rushed over to Avicus while Eric grabbed Isabelle by her shoulders, pulling the girl away from the defenseless Avicus who now lay unconscious.
"Enough!" He ordered, keeping Isabelle from harming the boy any further by turning her to face him. "What the fuck is going on?"
Isabelle's breathing was now jagged and erratic as Eric held her still, trying to regain her cool. She turned to look over at her friend, "you didn't tell them Nikki?"
"No," she said, her voice shaky, "I just told them to come down here—that you two were fighting. I couldn't tell them—I couldn't…"
"What. Happened?" Eric repeated, shaking Isabelle slightly.
Looking up into Eric's eyes, Isabelle told him the truth. "Nikki hadn't come to dinner, so I came by to check on her. I heard crying coming from the showers so I went to investigate." Isabelle paused for a moment, swallowing the lump in her throat before continuing, "that's when I saw that Avicus had pinned Nikki to the wall with a hand on her thigh and the other around her neck—he was touching her inappropriately and against her will. I got angry, so I rushed him before we started to fight."
Four turned to Nikki, "is this true?"
"Yes," she whispered immediately, tugging on the blanket around her closer, "it's true. I was just taking a shower when Avicus came in and threw me to the wall, hitting my head against the tile before he started to choke me. I felt dizzy and weak, so I couldn't fight him off—that's when Isabelle came in. She was able to get him off me so that's when I ran to get help."
Eric nodded, letting Isabelle go. "Four, take Nikki to the infirmary. Ashur and Lauren, take Avicus down there as well, but restrain him until we're able to interrogate him."
The instructors nodded and did as they were told. Four wrapped an arm around Nikki's shoulder reassuringly as he led her out of the living quarter's. Ashur and Lauren grabbed Avicus underneath the arms and dragged him out of the bathroom, following Four along with way.
Isabelle stood quietly as Eric turned off the shower; the girl instantly felt a bit colder than before; she started to shake slightly from the chilliness in the room. "You like getting into trouble, don't you initiate?" Eric hissed at her, his words seething out of his mouth like venom.
"He was attacking my friend, sir, what was I to do?"
"How about not kicking his fucking teeth in? Did that ever cross your thick skull?"
Isabelle glared up at Eric, her hazel eyes burning with rage as she stepped closer to him, leaving no space in-between the two of them. Eric could feel her chest rise against his as she breathed. "I had no fucking choice! If I were to leave Nikki alone with him, who know's what would've happened to her!"
"She could've defended herself—we've trained her well enough."
The brunette lost her breath at Eric's words as her mouth fell open slightly. "Are you seriously blaming Nikki for what happened?"
"I never said that."
"But it sure as hell sounds like it!" Isabelle yelled, causing Eric's nostrils to flare, but she didn't care. She was mad as hell and wanted him to know. "You keep telling us that to become Dauntless we have to be brave and fearless in order to protect others, but that's not Avicus. He likes to hurt people weaker than him because he enjoys it; he's not Dauntless—he's a fucking coward who likes to prey on little girls because it makes him feel like a man. He's demented and sick and he will destroy anyone who goes near him."
Isabelle paused for a moment, suddenly feeling an overwhelming sense of dismay for all of the people Avicus might hurt. Isabelle lowered her eyes as she backed away from the leader slowly, blinking a few times. Isabelle could feel tears welt up in her eyes, but tried to shake them away. It didn't work as they fell down her already wet cheeks. She looked up into his eyes, imploring him with her own. "You have to get rid of him, Eric, please. If you don't, he's just going to cause more damage and hurt more people. Please, Eric."
Eric sighed, looking down at the girl as more tears fell down her cheek, her bottom lip quivering from the coldness of the shower room. Her beautiful hazel eyes pleaded that he do something about the monster that was Avicus, but he knew he couldn't do much on his own. His expression softened as he continued to look down at the brunette, noticing that her wet hair clung to her pretty face. "Protocol demands that we interrogate him first; we can't do anything until all parties involved in the incident tell their side of the story, after that the leaders get together to decide what happens, but it's a long process that could take weeks, months even—way past when initiation is over. So the only way that he leaves Dauntless is if he doesn't make the cut. I'm sorry, Isabelle."
"So that's it?" She asked, the anger returning to her voice, "you're not gong to fucking do anything about it?"
"I said I was sorry," Eric's said, hardening his tone. "Avicus will be docked points for such behavior."
"Fuck your apology Eric. It's not gonna give Avicus the punishment he deserves."
Normally, Eric wouldn't have taken Isabelle's attitude and cussing lightly, but she had the right to be angry and he didn't blame her. He apologized again before making his way out of the showers and out of the living quarters. Isabelle stood in the showers for a moment, letting everything that had happened process in her mind. Slowly, the girl wandered out of the showers and stripped of her wet clothes, putting on her pajamas as she waited on her cot for Warsan and Mattie to come down to rest for the night. Her mind still raced with profanities and hatred for both Avicus and Eric. She felt so stupid to think that Eric could help, that he was a good person underneath his cold exterior.
It was about a half-hour later when Isabelle's other two friends arrived, ready to prepare for bed. They noted how distressed the brunette looked and asked out of concern.
"We need to talk," Isabelle said flatly, almost completely void of emotion. "Something happened tonight involving Nikki and Avicus."
"Oh god," Mattie exhaled, "is she alright? What happened?"
"He tried to assault her in the shower." Isabelle heard Mattie gasp quietly as she placed a hand over her mouth in shock. "She's fine, just a bit shaken up is all."
"Where are they now?" Warsan asked, worry in his dark eyes.
"They're both in the infirmary. I walked in on Avicus assaulting Nikki, so I fought him off until I knocked him out cold."
"Do the leaders know?"
Isabelle nodded.
"What are they gonna do about it?"
"They can't do anything until Avicus tells them his side of the story; after that, the leaders will review the evidence given and decide then what to do, but Eric said it'll take months until they come up with a verdict."
"What about Avicus? Will he be suspended? Kicked out?"
Isabelle shook her head. "Like I said, there's nothing they can do," She paused for a moment, inhaling deeply as she looked up at her friends. "But we're gonna do something about it. Eric said that the only way Avicus can leave the compound is if he doesn't make the cut during initiation… so we're gonna make sure that happens."
"And how will we do that?"
"We fight him during the matches and beat him. If all three of us fight him and win, he'll be knocked down below the cut-off line. He's nearly there on his own—almost close enough to be kicked out where he is; as an added bonus Eric said he's going to be docked points for his behavior, so he'll be ranked even lower when we fight him."
Warsan nodded, but looked a bit worried, "just one question: how do we get picked to fight Avicus? The leaders choose who the opponents are, not us."
"I've noticed that Eric chooses opponents based on two things: 1) how far apart the rankings are and 2) the relationship of the opponents; if two people are fighting during training, he's gonna match them up against each other—so that's what we'll do. It's most likely Eric's gonna make Avicus and I fight in the next match, so that's done with. All we need to do is worry about you two, alright?"
The two nodded, agreeing with their friend. Isabelle tried to smile, but her lips couldn't muster the strength to do so. And with that, the plan was set. Avicus was going to pay.