Warning: Because of the fights, this chapter contains mild violence. There is also mild language.

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it.

P.S.: Remember reviews make me smile. ;)

"Since there's an odd number of you, one of you won't be fighting today," says Four, as he steps away from the screen. Our fights are as follows:

Will – Al

Monica – Myra

Christina – Molly

Peter – Drew

Edward – Matt

Tris –

Tris is lucky, she doesn't have to fight today. I feel kind of lucky too. I'm up against Myra, who's just as weak, if not weaker, than I am. I think I can take her down easily. The Amity in me makes me feel bad for thinking this way, but I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not Amity anymore. I'm Dauntless now, and if I want to stay Dauntless, I have to pass initiation, which involves beating people in fights.

"This isn't good," says Christina. "Look, I'm up against the Tank."

"The Tank?"

"Yeah, Peter's slightly more feminine-looking minion." She nods towards Molly, Peter, and Drew. "Those three have been inseparable since the beginning of forever, practically. I hate them."

"What's wrong with them?" I ask.

"Peter's pure evil. He would always pick fights with people from other factions and then, when an adult would come to break it up, he'd cry and say that the other kid started it. And, of course, they believed him because he was Candor and Candor can't lie." She wrinkles her nose in disgust. "Drew is just Peter's sidekick. I doubt that he has an independent bone in his body. Molly is the kind of person that fries ants with a magnifying glass just to watch them suffer."

Peter, Molly, and Drew take a glance at us and then put their heads back together, whispering.

"I think they know that we're talking about them," Tris says.

"So? They already know that I hate them."

"How?"

"Because I've told them. We try to be honest about our feelings in Candor. Who cares?"

"We just weren't supposed to hurt people," I say, my inner Amity coming out again.

"I like to think that I'm helping them by hating them and reminding them that they aren't God's gifts to mankind." Tris and I laugh a little and then look to the arena. Will and Al stand across from each other in the arena and have their hands up by their faces to protect them, just like Four taught us. Al is half a foot taller than Will and is twice as broad. This fight probably won't last long.

Al punches Will in the jaw. Will stumbles to the side, one hand pressed to his face where he got punched and the other hand up to block Al's next punch. Will then hooks his foot around one of Al's legs, knocking him down. Al scrambles back to his feet.

Al and Will are now just circling each other, looking much more hesitant than before. They both glance at Four, as if they're waiting for him to call off the fight, but he just stands there with his arms folded across his chest.

After a few seconds of their circling, Eric shouts, "Do you think this is a leisure activity? Fight each other!"

"But, when does the fight end?" Al asks.

"When one of you is unable to continue." Eric replies.

"One of you could also concede." Four says.

"According to the old rules. According to the new rules, no one concedes."

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

"A brave man never surrenders."

Four and Eric stare each other down for a few seconds. I realize that I am looking at two different types of Dauntless: the honorable kind and the ruthless, bloodthirsty kind.

Eric motions at Will and Al to continue. They keep fighting until Al gives Will one hard punch to the jaw, which knocks him out cold. Eric looks at Will's body like it's the most wonderful thing he's ever seen. He's such a sadistic bastard.

After Four circles Al's name and leaves to help Will to the infirmary, Eric announces the next fight. "Next up, Monica and Myra!"

We step into the arena, both of us looking a bit apprehensive. We both take our stance and circle each other for a few seconds. Surprisingly, Myra makes the first move. She steps forward and swings with her right fist for my face, but is too far away and misses. I grab her arm with my left hand and punch her in the stomach with my right. When she stumbles back and I give her one hard punch to the side of her head, knocking her down and out cold. Initially, I feel pride that I was able to win, but then I look at Eric, and that feeling vanishes. Eric nods at me and gives me a small, cruel smile. I immediately feel sick. How could he be so cold? I walk back over to Tris and Christina when he announces the next fight.

"Next up, Molly and Christina!"

Christina cracks her knuckles as she enters the ring. I want to wish her luck, but I'm not sure how much good it would do. She and Molly are about the same height, but Christina is a bit narrower. It's hard to tell who will win. Molly smirks at Christina and, without warning, drives a hard punch into Christina's midsection. Molly then pins her down and, while Christina thrashes, she can't get free. Molly punches Christina's mouth, nose, and jaw, pretty much any part of her face she can get to. Before I know it, I've grabbed on to Al's arm, desperate for anything to hold on to, to keep myself steady. I look over and see that Tris had the same idea, since she's grabbing onto his other arm. Blood is running down the side of Christina's face and landing on the ground beside her cheek. For the first time in my life, I am hoping for someone to go unconscious. Unfortunately, she doesn't.

She manages to get one of her arms free and uses it to punch Molly in the ear, which throws her off balance so she can get free. She manages to get to her knees and holds her face with one hand. Her fingers are getting covered by her blood and she tries to crawl away from Molly. I can tell by the movement of her shoulders that she is crying and struggling to breathe. Molly kicks Christina in the side, which causes her to fall on her back. I feel so bad for her, I want to go up there and help her, but I can't bring myself to move.

As Molly brings her foot up to kick again, Christina puts up on hand in defeat, while she uses the other to help herself crawl away. "Stop! I'm… I'm done!" Molly smiles and Tris, Al, and I let out a huge sigh of relief. However, my relief is short lived when I see Eric make his way towards the arena.

"You need to stop?" Christina just looks up at him and nods, since she's still trying to catch her breath.

"Ok, let me give you a hand." The way he speaks to her makes my body go on edge once more. He doesn't yell. He speaks very quietly, his words very precise. This makes me terrified. I can tell that he's planning to do something horrible, I just can't tell what. Part of me is too scared to find out. Christiana reluctantly takes his hand and he pulls her up.

"Alright, everyone take a break." He leads Christina towards the door and motions for us to follow.

After we are walking for a while, I realize that we are heading towards the Chasm. This is definitely not good. This uneasy feeling is enhanced when he puts his arm around Christina, and his hand on the small of her back. For some reason, I also feel a little jealous, but I push it away. My feelings aren't important right now.

"Are you feeling a little better?" he asks her in a quiet, gentle tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He then grabs her arm, swinging her over the side of the rail, so she's holding onto it with one hand, while Eric's holding the other. She screams and we all gasp, my hands flying to cover my mouth in shock.

"Grab the railing," he says, looking down at her with a cold look in his eyes. "Or don't." He lets go of her hand and she grabs onto the rail.

"You have three options. Hang there and I'll forget your cowardice. Fall and die. Or give up. But, if you give up, you're out." She resolves to hang there. For a while, I don't know exactly how long, Christina seems fine. Her hands are holding the railing firmly and her arms aren't shaking. But then, water from above her falls on her hands and she begins to struggle. The water is making her hands slippery, which makes it hard for her to hold on.

I want to help her, but Eric would probably expose me to the same fate that Christina is suffering through right now. I'm not kind enough to risk my life to save my friend from dying. I'm not even kind enough to try. My mother would probably be ashamed of me for not helping her, because helping her is exactly what my mother would do. If she saw me now and knew what I was thinking, she would probably be very ashamed of me. The thought, along with Christina's plight, causes tears to begin to form in my eyes.

After what seems like forever, Eric calls time and Tris, Al, and I run forward to pull her up. She collapses in Tris and Al's arms, sobbing, while I stand behind her, rubbing her back.

"Dauntless never give up!" He then sends us all back to the training room. Everyone heads back, with Tris and Al helping Christina along, but I stay back, rooted where I stand. I can't bring myself to move.

"Problem, Amity?" I am suddenly able to move again and spin around to look at him.

"Yeah, I have a problem! Why would you do that?" I am seething with rage. He just almost killed one of his initiates, one of my friends, and he doesn't know what my problem is? He's got some nerve!

"As Dauntless, it's our job to protect every single life within the fence without fail. That's an important job, so we train you hard to teach you to never give up. And to see who has what it takes to fulfill the job."

"And making someone hang over the Chasm is how you teach us that?"

"Yes. And besides, she wasn't in danger."

"You made her hang somewhere with a 40 foot drop onto sharp rocks, and you're telling me she wasn't in any danger?!" He takes a predatory step forward and I wait for him to reprimand me, or throw me over the railing for speaking out of turn, but he doesn't.

"Look over the rail."

"Why, so you can push me over?" I scoff at him for thinking that I'm that stupid.

"I'm not going to push you off, just look." I reluctantly comply and look over the railing. I first, I see nothing of significance, but then, I do. I see a piece of rock protruding a few feet away from the wall of the Chasm.

"Is that a ledge?"

"Keep looking. At the bottom." I don't know what he's talking about, and annoyed that he didn't answer me, but I keep looking. Like before, I see nothing at first. However, as I look harder I see something shiny above the rocks. Not from the water, but like it's from some sort of silver painted rope. Wait. I look back at Eric in shock as the realization dawns on me.

"If she fell, she most likely would have landed on the ledge. And, if she was too stupid, and leaned back, she would have fell, but she would have hit the net before she hit the rocks. Like I said, she wasn't in any real danger. I wasn't really going to let her die. I'm not as sadistic as everyone thinks I am."

"So what, you just psyched her out? Psyched us all out? Why?"

"Like I said, part of training is to teach you not to give up. Now, after this, no one will."

"Why are you telling me this? You know that I could just go and tell everyone that this was a trick, don't you?" He takes another step towards me, presses our bodies together and looks me dead in the eye.

"Because, unless I'm reading you wrong, I'm pretty sure that you're not stupid enough to do that. So, I'm trusting you not to. Do I need to regret my decision to trust you?" He has a deadly look in his eyes, one that tells me that I shouldn't push my luck any further. I've already talked back to him enough for one day.

"No."

"Good. Then, if you're done yelling at me, I suggest you go back to the training room and watch your mouth from now on." Without a word, I turn on my heel and march away from him. Part of me can understand why he did what he did, but the other part of me cannot begin to fathom it. I can't believe that, for even just a minute, I allowed myself to be attracted to him. He's a sick, cold-hearted jackass.

Author's Note

So, I have a question for you all. Would any of you be interested in reading a chapter from Eric's point of view? I find it a bit difficult to write in the male perspective, but if you would like it, I could try. Let me know in the review box. Thank you!