Author's Note:
I want to thank murmelinchen, beautiful violence, interdictum in aeternum, mrsbishop21, skdj 10, Genie, Sasha, lostqueen4, and mona-rose for the reviews:) And yes, skdj 10, I do actually watch a "shit load" of MMA, though, I have also fought, before, when I was a teenager:) I won my first fight, but had to tap out on my next two, so I quit, lol. And, as far as when Eric will talk... you'll see:) But thank you so much to everyone reading this, and don't forget to fave/follow/review:)
"For a farmer, you are really weak." Marc sighs in exasperation, while Lia chuckles at the browned-haired instuctor's comment. She continues to strike out at the heavy bag, sweat dripping down her milky-white skin.
The dark-haired girl breathes out, forcefully, with every hit. She was so consumed in her punches, that she didn't notice when the blonde leader walked up behind her, scrutinizing her movements.
Lia jumped, startled, when she felt warm hands grip her hips suddenly. She turned her head up to discover that her face was exceptionally close to the intimidating instructor's chin. Eric gazed down at her with cold eyes, before nodding towards where his hands were. He silently twisted her hips, and pressed a hand to her stomach, applying a slight pressure. Lia gulped as he backed away and went to stand in the shadows, just watching. Watching the initiates. Watching her.
She was surprised that, even though he hadn't said a word to her, she somehow understood what he wanted her to do. She applied the advice, throwing more of her weight into the punches, as a result, making them much more efficient.
Throughout the rest of that afternoon, Lia found herself sneaking glances at the blue-eyed leader. He was intimidating. He was so silent, it was almost creepy. It didn't take her long to figure out that he didn't speak to Four, or anyone else, either. What she couldn't understand, was why. And it was driving her curious mind insane.
"Alright, that's it for today," Four announced, gathering everyone together near the elevated ring in the middle of the training room. "Get cleaned up, and get to the cafeteria." The brown-haired instructor didn't say anything else to the initiates, before he walked off to the side and whispered to the young leader.
Lia hesitated to leave with the rest of the initiates, and instead, stared at the two instructors. She just couldn't help it; she was too curious.
She couldn't make out what Four said to Eric, but she noticed that Eric answered him, by pulling a pad and pen out of his back pocket. He wrote something on the paper and handed it to the brown-eyed instructor. She became even more confused, and curious, when Four laughed at whatever the blonde had written on it.
She didn't realize she had giggled, until both of the men turned their eyes on her. Eric glared at her, and she shrunk under his cold gaze, as she felt her face begin to heat up.
Lia began to back up, as the silent man strode towards her, and felt her knees trembling. She was scared of this young leader.
He didn't utter a word, as per usual, but he continued to glare at her as he raised an arm and pointed towards the exit, nodding his head in that direction.
Cordelia swallowed thickly, as he backed away from her, never breaking eye contact. She escaped quickly, jogging her way through the dark, damp corridors back to the dorm room.
When she went to gather clean clothes for after she got out of the shower, she suddenly realized that she had left her jacket back in the training room. There was no way on earth she was about to go back for it.
"I'll just get it tomorrow," she thought, as she gathered the small bundle of clothing, and her towel.
There were still a few initiates in the showers, but it didn't bother her.
"Shit, Lia!" Marc exclaimed, when Lia turned on the spray next to him, and he hurried to cover himself with his hands. Lia smirked at him, as she stripped down, before stepping under the hot water, relishing in the way that the warm liquid soothed her aching muscles.
"Don't be so shy, Marc," she said with a giggle, as she began to massage shampoo into her long, silky hair. "You don't see me being self-conscious, do you?"
The ginger-haired Amity boy hesitantly removed his hands, turning his back to the former Candor girl, and continued to wash himself.
"I'm just not used to... this," he said, glancing around the co-ed showers.
"You better get used to it, then," Lia replied, as she lathered her body with soap. "We're gonna be sharing a lot together." Marc turned his head slightly, to see the dark-haired girl gesturing towards the toilets, where one of the initiates sat.
"Ew," he said, quietly, causing Lia to laugh, loudly. They finished up quickly, drying off and pulling on their clothes, before heading down to the dining hall for dinner.
"Lia!"
The Candor girl barely had time to register who had shouted her name, before there was a mess of blue hair in her face.
"Sassy?" she said, as the Dauntless-born girl hugged her waist tightly. "I can't breathe!"
The blue-haired girl released her, before grabbing her hand, and pulling her along to a table with more Dauntless-borns. Marc followed, awkwardly.
"You guys sit with us!" she ordered, sliding onto the bench, as Lia and the Amity boy complied. "So, this is Lia," Sassy began, placing a hand on the dark-haired girl's shoulder. "And, this is...?"
"Marc," the Amity boy replied, smiling at the bubbly Dauntless-born girl. Sassy grinned widely, before introducing herself to Marc, and then introducing the rest of the Dauntless-born at her table.
"This is Uriah, he's crazy! And, the two idiots sucking face are Violet, and Todd," the blue-haired girl pointed to a girl with dark, purple hair and a deep tan, and a boy with striking, green hair, and several facial piercings. Lia could tell that Marc felt uncomfortable sitting so close to the passionately kissing lovebirds.
"I thought Amity was all about 'free love', and all that?" the Candor girl inquired of the ginger boy. She could see the blush creep over his face, and he looked down, before filling his plate with beans, sliced bread, and some questionable meat in gravy.
They chatted all through dinner, and Lia noticed how Marc kept stealing glances at Sassy, and vice versa. She didn't say anything, although, she really wanted to.
"Hey!" Sassy exclaimed, suddenly, causing Lia to jump a bit. "Hey that's my favorite song! Turn it up!" The blue-haired girl screamed the last part, and to Lia's surprise, the music got loud; really loud.
I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone
Read between the lines
Of what's fucked up and everything's alright
Check my vital signs
To know I'm still alive and I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a...
My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone**
"Well, that's fucking depressing," Lia states, simply, pulling off a piece of bread and popping it in her mouth. Sassy laughs, as well as Marc, Violet, Todd and Uriah.
"Yeah, I know right?" Uriah says, climbing over the table to sit between Marc and Cordelia. He knocks over a few glasses, and plates in the process.
"Uri!" cries Violet, swatting at him with her hand, but he just shoots her a wicked grin.
"So," Uriah begins, once he's settled comforably between the two transfers. "How is the training going?" Lia smiles at how easy going the Dauntless-born boy is. She wipes the corner of her mouth with a napkin before answering him.
"It's okay, just..." Lia trails off, with a frown. She doesn't think she'll have a problem with the actual training; just, maybe the trainer. The blonde one. The silent one. The creepy one.
"Just, what?" Sassy asks, concern in her voice, and she begins to rub the dark-haired girl's back. Lia chuckles a bit, shrugging the hand off and elbowing the blue-haired girl.
"Just, Eric," she sighs, leaning forward, and resting her chin in the palm of her hand. A few eyebrows go up, and a few heads tilt to the side, at her answer.
"What about Eric?" Todd inquires, as the entire table seems to be intently staring at her now. Lia rolls her eyes, and sighs again. She doesn't really know the answer to that question. It just is.
"I don't know," she starts, softly, rubbing her face. "He doesn't say anything to me, but I constantly feel intimidated by him. And like, today, it was really odd."
"How so?" Marc pipes up, and Lia turns to look at him, giving him a small smile.
"I kinda got curious, so I stayed behind when you were leaving out, and I was watching Four and Eric. Four said something to Eric, and then Eric wrote something on a piece of paper, and then Four laughed. And I laughed, and Eric..."
Lia sighed heavily, her shoulders drooping. "It's stupid. I felt like I was a kid caught eavesdropping. I thought I was in trouble. He just walked up to me and pointed at the damn door! What the hell is that about? I mean, why doesn't he say anything? Is he mute?"
Sassy, Violet and Todd exchange nervous glances, before pointing in the direction directly behind Lia.
"Oh my god," Cordelia whispers, feeling her face heat up, as she slowly turned around on the bench. "How does he keep doing that?" she thought, seeing Eric standing over her.
The blue-eyed leader wore a blank expression, almost like a mask. He held out a dark piece of fabric, and Lia hesitated, only momentarily, before she grabbed it. He had returned her jacket to her.
"Um... Thank you?" she said, quietly. Eric nodded, and turned to leave, but she grabbed his arm to stop him. He slowly turned back around, staring down at her. He raised an eyebrow at her in question.
"Are you mute?" Lia asks, tilting her head to the side, unable to help herself. She hears a few gasps from the people at her table, but, luckily most of the other people in the cafeteria are too caught up in their own conversations to notice the scene unfolding with the Candor transfer and the young leader.
Something unreadable flashes across his eyes, but it is gone quickly. He slowly shakes his head, and Lia sighs in frustration. "Well, why the fuck don't you talk then? It's kind of creepy the way you just sneak up on people, too. Is that why you don't talk? You just like to be creepy? Why are-? Ow!"
"I really hope I don't end up murdering this stupid Candor bitch... What's with all the fucking questions?"
Lia placed her cool hand to her stinging cheek, her eyes wide with shock.
"You slapped me!" she accuses, growing angry, as a few tears spill from her eyes. She was embarrassed, and that really did hurt. She wouldn't be surprised if there was a handprint on her cheek tomorrow.
"Well, duh, Ms. Obvious."
Eric shrugged, smirking, before he took his leave. He really was getting sick and tired of the Candor girl's constant questioning.
"Almost would think she's from Erudite, with all the damn questions."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Eric walked briskly through the corridors, the flickering, flourescent lights throwing dancing shadows over his face. He wondered why he even bothered to answer Lia's first question. He didn't have to answer that. He didn't have to do anything. So, why did he? Why did he shake his head when she asked if he was mute?
Eric sighed in frustration. He was letting a stupid Candor transfer get to him. That was going to stop, now. He hurried through the halls, stopping outside a door that was four stories above the Pit, and knocked loudly.
He didn't have to wait long before the door opened, to reveal a very tired looking Lauryn. She just stared at him for a minute, and he stared right back, before raising that pierced eyebrow of his. The red-head rolled her eyes, exhaling loudly, before moving out of the way to let the young leader in.
"What's up?" she asked, as they settled on the couch. The green-eyed girl curled her legs up under her on the far end, and Eric leaned back, stretching out his legs, with his feet on the coffee table. The young leader shrugged, slightly, in answer to her question, causing the red-head to sigh in exasperation.
"Seriously, Eric? You come knocking on my door when I'm trying to relax, and then when I ask you 'what's up', you just shrug?" Lauryn scoffs, crossing her arms, and shifting slightly in her seat. "Come on, now."
Eric lifted his hips up off of the couch a bit, so he could to pull out his pad and pen from his back pocket. Lauryn sighed when she saw him scribbling. She missed when they used to talk about everything. But, ever since he found out about his medical condition... It hadn't been the same. Eric hadn't been the same. The red-head blamed herself.
Eric reached his arm out to hand her the small piece of paper. She looked it over briefly: The Candor bitch. Lauryn gave him a look that said, 'seriously?'.
"First jumper? What about her?" the green-eyed girl inquired, as she moved to sit cross-legged when her feet started to go to sleep. Eric scribbled on the pad again, and handed her the next note: Questions.
"So," said Lauryn, raising her eyebrow, and shaking her head a bit. "Lot's of people have asked you questions. You don't answer them. You don't have to answer them. You never have, before. What's the problem, here? Because I'm just not getting it."
Eric sighed, deeply, running a hand through his blonde hair, before he wrote out yet another note: I answered one... She asked if I was mute, and I shook my head no. She kept asking questions. I slapped her.
The young leader's mouth was set in a thin line while he wrote, and he almost ripped the paper to hand it to Lauryn. Her eyes skimmed over the words, her face softening a bit.
"Eric, look," the red-head started, scooting close to the blonde, and looking up into his icy-blue orbs. "I would say not to let her get to you, but... I wish somebody would get to you. I miss your voice... I don't care how it sounds; I just miss your voice."
"I fucking care how it sounds. I sound like a fucking retard."
"You can't keep quiet forever. Sooner or later, you'll need to speak. It can either be on your terms, or it will be on somebody elses. I know you. I know you're rattling off all kinda crap in that messed up head of yours..."
"Yep, I surely fucking am."
"...but, I really wish you would at least consider it, yeah?" Eric shakes his head in response, and Lauryn's eyes fall as she sighs. "Fine, get out of my apartment, you big, dumb brute."
Eric almost laughed at that.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"I can't believe he fucking slapped me!" Lia exclaims when the initiates have settled into the dorms. Marc sits on the Candor girl's bed, as they talk, playing with his longer, ginger hair.
"I hate to say this, Lia," he starts, blushing, and ducking his head a bit. "But, if I was him, I probably would've slapped you, too." Lia punches the Amity boy in the shoulder, and he lets out a yelp of pain.
"What the fuck, Marc?!"
"I'm just saying... like, I'm sure he has a good reason? Maybe?" Marc ducked just in time, as a pillow came soaring straight at his head, barely missing him.
"A good reason? To fucking slap me?!" Lia almost shouts, her pride, and feelings, hurt by the incident.
"No, no! Not to slap you! Please, stop hitting me!" Marc squeals, relieved when Lia backs off a bit. The Candor girl is still fuming, though. "I'm just saying... maybe he has a good reason not to talk? Like, I knew this boy in Amity..."
"I don't care! I just want to go to sleep. Marc, get back to bed," Lia huffs out angrily, as she pushes at the bigger boy. He concedes with a "Yes, ma'am," and all but jumps on his cot, snuggling down under his blanket, and covering up his head.
Lia scoots down and curls up, as well, eventually falling into the welcome, dark tendrils of sleep.
**Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day