A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much for the kind reviews and for following and favorite-ing! You're the best! As promised, here is the next chapter, enjoy!
Disclaimer: *sigh* Tobias, you just can't belong to me. All rights go to Veronica Roth.
My alarm wakes me up with a jolt. I was deep in sleep, dreaming about zip lining. But it wasn't our zip line; I flew over a massive body of water, getting sprayed with fresh mist as I zoomed by. I woke up before I got to the end of the line. I sit up, numbed for a moment, what I have to do today still unclear. Then I remember; today the initiates have to fight each other. I really hate these days, it's completely pointless to knock someone of your own faction unconscious, and it's hard to remain friends after you've had a fight, without gloating or hard feelings. I groggily get in the shower, dress in black leggings and a black peplum, line my eyes with eyeliner, and grab a coffee before heading down to the training room.
I breathe in the scent of sweat and metal I have come to love, and the heaviness of the air from being underground surrounds me. I start writing names on the chalk board, pairing them for fights. I decide to give Tobias the morning off, so I can see the skill levels of the other initiates first. I have high hopes for Tobias's fighting skills; no one can perfect the techniques I taught yesterday so fast, especially a stiff. It's almost as if he has had experience, if he seen fighting before, but of course he didn't, not in Abnegation. They all shuffle in as I finish the pairing them up.
"Since there are nine of you, one of you won't be fighting today." I say, glancing at Tobias. He cocks his eyebrow, confused. Will and Al are up first, and this fight could go anywhere from three minutes to twenty. Al is bigger than Will is, but Will is faster, a pretty even match. They step into the ring as Eric, who I overlooked on my way in, speaks up.
"You'll be ranked on this, so fight hard."
"Ranked?" They say, simultaneously. I can tell this is amusing him, knowing something they don't, something that's going to put more stress on them.
"Your ranks determine what job you'll get after initiation. They also determine who will become factionless." I notice as he's saying this, that he's trying hard not to laugh or grin. He's enjoying their shocked faces, but I feel bad for them. I know the emotional stress from initiation, but Eric pretends not to.
"What do you mean, factionless?" Tobias says, breaking the silence.
"Only the top ten initiates, of the Dauntless-born and transfer initiates together, become full members. The rest of you will become factionless. Four of you will be gone by the end of stage one, the rest of the eliminations will occur after stage three. Now, fight each other!"
Immediately, they begin shuffling in a circle, looking for an opening. I glance at Tobias, with a new-found determination in his eyes, and grin at that, and then watch the fight again. Al hits Will in the jaw, not too hard, but hard enough for Will to stumble slightly. Eric smirks and twirls his latest piercing. Will makes a nice block for a punch, but his blow to the jaw is still slowing him down, he's going to have to recover faster than that if he wants to survive here. Al hesitates and then Will takes him down quickly. Al gets up and they begin circling each other again.
"Do you think this is leisure activity? Should we break for nap time? Fight each other!" Eric hisses after a few seconds.
"But…" Al lowers his guard, "Is this scored or something? When does it end?"
"It ends when one of you is unable to continue." Eric says, I can tell his patients are wearing thin, so I decide to step in.
"Or, by Dauntless rules, one of you could concede."
"Those were the old rules." Eric snaps at me, "New rules, no one concedes. A brave man never surrenders."
I can just look at him with a scowl. It doesn't surprise me that he decided to take out that rule, but a true brave man acknowledges the strength of others, and steps down. Eric's twisted vision of this faction will have us all killed. I look at the fear placed in Al's and Will's eyes and nod. Then I see something inside Al snap.
"What's the point of beating him up? We are in the same faction!" He practically yells. I hear Eric sigh and silently curse him for trying to stand up to him.
"Oh, you think it'll be that easy, slowpoke? Hit me if you can!" Will says before Eric can lecture him, or worse. I see a new, determined look in Will's eyes, and Eric notices this too and grins, sadistic, evil. Al tries a punch but Will easily dodges it, diving for his waist. Al grabs him and holds him, in a crushing way. He looks ridden with guilt and then, with a slow, strong arm, knocks him out cold. He drops to the floor, and Al goes down too, tapping his face, trying to bring him back to consciousness. His eyes stay closed for a long few seconds but then flutter open, his celery green eyes looking dazed. I lift him from the waist and Al supports him from his other side as we lead him to the hospital. When we enter, Al brings him to the recovery room while I check him in.
"Hey, Six." The nurse, Tonya, says. When I got first place in initiation I also became quite famous among the Dauntless. Almost everyone knows my name, or at least my nickname. "I'm guessing you're here to check him in?" She says, nodding towards a bloody Will.
"Yeah, started fighting today, his name is Will, I put his information under the 'initiates' file." She nods and clicks away at the computer. She'll fix him up, but his anger towards Al might never go away. I join Al at Will's bed as Tonya starts hooking up wires. I tug on his large arm and lead him out of the hospital. He turns to me.
"Why did I have to do that, Six? Was there any need for that?" He says, his voice wavering.
"It's the rules, I can't change them, and you can't either. It's just the way it is." I say, coldly. Hopefully I covered my hatred for them well. He just nods and walks back to the training room. I should do the same, but if I see Eric again I just might throw a knife at him. I decide to go grab a coffee and try to cool off for a few minutes.
When I reach the coffee shop, I see Zeke and Shauna are there. I order a Chai Latte and join them at the railing, high above the chasm.
"Don't you people have work to do?" I ask them as I approach.
"Don't you have initiates to train?" Shauna snaps back. Zeke laughs when he sees that I have nothing to come back with.
"Checkmate." He grins. I raise my hands in mock surrender and give them a rundown of what just happened. When I finish they both look at me, wide-eyed and almost as pissed off as I am.
"So, he's making them, like, beat each other shitless? What a bitch!" Shauna says, just loud enough for us to hear. And then, below us at the platform above the Chasm, Eric and all of the transfers approach. What is he doing? I think, as he speaks words I can't hear to a beaten looking Christina, she and Molly were supposed to fight after Will and Al. He pushes her into the railing and she climbs over, hanging with a white-knuckled grip. I hold my breath. What is Eric trying to prove? She'll die if she lets go, but if she gives up, Eric will probably kill her anyway. That, or make her factionless. Shauna and Zeke are both watching critically, Zeke silently cheering Christina on. For the first two minutes of so, she is fine, but then the water from the Chasm slaps into her back and she lets go, hanging by one hand. A gasp escapes my mouth but she grabs the railing again, letting out a cry louder than the roar of the water.
"What's his deal? If he keeps this up, all of us will be dead." Shauna says. A low, male voice starts cheering from below, and then another voice joins him. I lean over the railing to see Al clapping his hands and Tobias yelling with him. I grin proudly at that; I would do the same if I wasn't in so much shock. She keeps struggling, slipping occasionally, and after five slow minutes crawl by, Al and Tobias help her up, cradling her as she sobs. We all relax visibly. Just when I thought my hatred for Eric couldn't get any worse, he decides to dangle my initiates. Now that that is all over and everyone is safe, Zeke fires up his un-serious, sarcastic aurora that I love most of the time, but hate often too.
"Looks like you got competition, the stiff's all over her!" Zeke says, with a teasing grin on his face. I grab his coffee and pour it over his head.
"Look, now coffee is all over you!" I say, hardly containing my laughter at his shocked face. But seconds later he's laughing with me. I look over the railing and see Christina heaving breaths in and out. Of course he's not all over her, he is just helping her, and... What am I thinking? Ugh, I need more coffee.