Three days later...
Lia stared at a crack in the floor, with a blank expression on her face; she felt nothing but apathetic about anything, anymore. The loss of her parents had affected her, immensely; she had robotically participated in the daily training exercises for the three days immediately following the grim news.
She had numbly moved through the motions in marksmanship, rope climbing, and fighting. The dark-haired girl had lost her second fight to another girl who transferred from Candor. The depression had set in, and it didn't look to the other initiates, or their instructors, like it would be leaving anytime soon.
Cordelia wouldn't speak to Marc, or even her Dauntless-born friends, and she had felt like she was slowly losing herself.
"Lia, come on," Marc pleaded with the amber-eyed girl, shaking her shoulders gently. "You're scaring me. You're scaring all of us. Snap out of it."
The dark-haired girl didn't raise her eyes to the Amity boy, if anything, she stared at the floor even more intensely.
The initiates were in the training room, pounding relentlessly on the heavy punching bags that were lined up against the far fall. The only sounds in the room were the dull smack of flesh against canvas, and low grunts of exertion, as the instructors looked on.
Cordelia stood off to the side, unable to will herself to participate in the exercise, while Marc begged her, unsucessfully, to join in. The ginger-haired boy gave up, with a sigh, and proceeded with his morning training.
The blonde leader watched the scene, with anger; Lia was the single, most promising transfer, and he was not about to sit idly by while she fell to the bottom. He would not see the Candor girl become Factionless over something so trivial in the long haul of life.
Eric stalked over to the dark-haired girl, crossing his arms over his chest, and he pursed his lips in dissapointment as he looked down on her. She did not meet his gaze, she did not glare at him with that spark of fire in her eyes, and she did not make some snide comment about his invasion of personal space.
Cordelia barely noticed when the tall, silent blonde approached her. She simply didn't care enough to be aware of her surroundings. She felt her breath leave her momentarily, and she stumbled back, when Eric shoved her backwards. Her eyes widened a bit, and she finally met the young leader's annoyed gaze, in shock. She had no sharp retort; she simply stood there, gazing back at him.
The blonde shoved her again, harder this time, and Cordelia lost her footing, falling to the floor. At this point, everyone else in the training room had stopped what they were doing to watch the altercation.
Eric glared down at the dark-haired girl, his icy-blue orbs piercing into her own amber eyes. Something sparked within the Candor girl, when she hit the ground, and she jumped up quickly, hands clenched, and shaking, by her sides. She stood chest to chest with the daunting leader, her amber eyes revealing her inner rage.
The training room had gone eerily quiet, as the two stared each other down.
The blonde shoved Lia, yet again, and the dark-haired girl had barely stumbled back, before she attacked the silent leader. The seething Candor transfer threw a powerful right hook to the left side of Eric's face, before kicking out with her left leg, the blow landing to the young leader's stomach. The blue-eyed man gasped, clutching the sore area as he coughed.
The dark-haired girl wasn't finished yet, though, and she quickly dived under him, rolling onto her back. She kicked out at the back of the blonde instructor's legs, causing him to drop to the floor, on his knees. Cordelia took advantage of his current, vulnerable position, and swiftly jumped onto Eric's back, knocking him forward to lay sprawled on his stomach on the cold, cement ground.
Eric had only just turned his head to the side in time to avoid a broken nose, his head bouncing off the concrete floor, causing his vision to blur slightly.
The Candor girl had him trapped with her legs, immobilizing his left arm with her knee, while she yanked his right arm up, twisting the limb and pulling it backwards, at an unnatural angle, in an arm bar. She was mere miliseconds away from breaking the blonde leader's arm, when she caught the grin that graced his features.
She released her opponent from the submissive position that she had restrained him in, and stood, slowly. Eric rolled over onto his back, before pulling himself to his feet, and continued to grin down at the dark-haired girl.
"You..." Lia shook her head, her eyes flitting closed, briefly, as she tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened. "You didn't fight back... You wanted me to attack you?"
Eric's grin widened, and he nodded, once, in agreement with her statement. This was exactly how he had wanted the top-ranked transfer to react.
Lia wore a confused expression, as her eyes searched his icy-blues for an explanation. She didn't understand why he had done this; why he had allowed her to do this.
"Why?" she inquired, a small frown knitting her sharp eyebrows together, as she struggled to make sense of what was going on.
The young leader pulled out his pad and pen, scribbling quickly, before handing Lia the small, yellow slip of paper: Dauntless never give up. You are Dauntless. Don't give up.
Cordelia swallowed thickly as she read the words that he had written, in his small, neat script. She looked back up into Eric's eyes, his expression difficult to read.
"Thank you," she whispered, as she folded up the small piece of paper, and tucked it away in her pocket. The blonde offered no further acknowledgement to her words, but simply gestured to the punching bags, where the rest of the initiates had already resumed practicing their punches and kicks.
Six days later - Two weeks into stage one of training...
"Initiates! Tonight we will be dividing up the transfers, and the Dauntless-born, evenly. This game will not affect your rank, but don't think for a second that it isn't important. This will prove your abilities to work together as a team, your marksmanship, your stealth."
Four knelt down to the metal, grated floor of the car that the initiates occupied on the locomotive, zipping open one, of two large, black duffel bags. The brown-haired instructor pulled out three red guns, tossing one each to Eric and Lauryn, and holding his own up in the air, for all of the initiates to see.
"This will be your weapon of choice for the war games."
Lia turned her head to the right when she heard a snort eminate from the brunette, Candor girl that had beat her in the second fight.
"You call that a gun?" she muttered to her friends; two boys from Erudite, Jared and Liam, a girl from Amity, Mona, and a boy from Candor, William.
Eric heard the sarcastic statement, and wasted no time in aiming his weapon, and firing at the arrogant transfer. The Candor girl, Sarah, screamed out in pain, and slid down the wall to the floor.
Cordelia noticed the smirk that played on the blonde leader's lips, and she had to force her own smug smile away.
Four approached Sarah, bending down, and plucking the silver dart from the skin at her collarbone. "Neuro-stim dart," he explained, raising his voice, while he held the small, four-pronged cartridge up for all to see. "It simulates the pain of a real gun-shot wound, but only lasts a few minutes. That being said, don't let an opponent get your weapon. In high doses, the serum can cause an adverse reaction, poisoning your blood, and is potentially lethal. Any more questions?"
The brown-haired instructor nodded in satisfaction at the lack of words, and threw the dart to the floor. "Two teams; Lauryn and I are captains. You first," Four directed at the red-head, and she stepped forward, scratching her chin as she looked over the transfers, first.
"Lia," she finally said, with a smile, and a wink to the dark-haired girl. The Candor transfer looked to the green-eyed woman with a grin on her face, while Four made a nervous sound.
"Ouch, guess I shoulda picked first, huh? Okay, um..."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Lights off!" Lauryn called out to the blue team, switching her own, glowing pocket lamp off. Lia did as ordered, before taking in her surroundings. They had gathered in a large park on the north east side of the city, the sharp, jagged skyline to the east a blue sillhouet in the light of the mostly-full moon.
"Wow," the dark-haired girl breathed, in wonder of the spectacular backdrop to their soon-to-be violent game. Eric smiled, slightly, at the expression on the Candor girl's face, remembering the time he had first witnessed the amazing view.
"I know, right?" Violet nudged Lia in the side, both of them giggling, as Lauryn spoke up, once again.
"I'm your captain, but, mostly I'm just hear to supervise. You will be making the decisions in this game. Four likes to play defense, so what's the plan?"
An incomprehensible chatter started among the initiates, everyone arguing the soundness of their ideas.
"Split into three groups. Seven of us form into two groups, and flank them from both sides, while the other three head straight for the flag."
"No, no! We sneak in, and then run out, guns blazing, and take them by surprise."
"Okay, we split into two groups..."
Lia stopped paying attention, deciding to wait it out, and play whatever part they wanted her to play.
Eric noticed her silence, and pointed the dark-haired girl out to Lauryn, who immediately called for the other initiates to be quiet. The blonde leader strode over to the Candor girl, noticing the reflection of the moon in her amber orbs, as she held his gaze. He raised a pierced eyebrow at her, in expectation.
"Me?" she said, her eyes widening, as she looked passed the young leader's shoulder to the other initiates. The blonde nodded, waiting for her response. Lia looked down for a moment, before looking back to the spooky, yet beautiful, skyline.
"Um..." the dark-haired girl worried her lip ring; she had sinced changed out the ball, in favor of a small, silver ring. The blue-eyed leader's gaze drifted briefly to her lips, before studying her eyes, once again. "If Four plays on defense, why don't we steal the position from him? We could head into the Old City, and find somewhere with a high vantage point to wait it out."
The blonde leader nods, in approval, giving the Candor transfer a small smirk.
"Alright, head out!" Lauryn calls to the other initiates. "Lia, you're leading the way!"
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The darkness began to close in, the farther they trekked into the cover of the tall buildings. The only sounds to be heard, were those of boots crunching gravel, and cicadas chirping in the overgrown trees that lined either side of the road. Lia noticed the young leader walking beside her, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw him tapping his fingers against the side of his leg, nervously.
They rounded a bend in the road, and Lia chanced a glance at the blonde's icy-blue eyes. She was slightly surprised when she saw his gaze darting side to side, and he swallowed multiple times.
It dawned on her, then, that the Dauntless leader was afraid of the dark. The Candor girl giggled, and quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, when Eric turned his head to look at her, with an unamused expression.
"Something funny to you, Smart Mouth?"
"Um... There," Cordelia stopped in her tracks, pointing up at an old church with a large bell-tower on the side. "There should be plenty of places to hole up in there, and then two of us can wait in the tower with the flag."
The dark-haired girl led the troop of initiates across the road, and onto the sidewalk, briefly inspecting an old, crumbling sign: St. Michael's Church
They entered through a set of double doors, and Lia gasped when she took in her surroundings, once inside. The ceiling was high, at least thirty feet, and large, white marble columns went all the way from the floor, to the ceiling. There were rows, upon rows, of long, wooden benches, rotting away over the years, and the moonlight shining through the cracked, or broken, stained-glass windows threw eery shadows throughout the room.
Lia lifted her eyes, catching sight of the intricate, and complex, designs that decorated the high ceiling.
"Whoa," she breathed, in amazement. She really never learned very much about life before the war, but, seeing this made her hunger for it.
"Okay," the dark-haired girl shook her head a bit, in an attempt to focus on the task at hand. "So, I want five of you on each side of the aisle; hide on the floor, between the benches, and spread out. I don't want you too close together. I want two of you here in the back. One on each side of the door, and lean back against the wall. I need one person to climb up on top of that... thing," Lia pointed to the large alter at the far end of the room, slightly mesmerized by the decor. "And when Four's group enters, let them get into the middle of the room before you open fire; you'll have them all surrounded. I want two more of you to come with me, and you can guard the bottom of the tower. And lastly, I need one person to come with me to the top of the tower."
Violet and Todd quickly volunteered to guard the back, by the door, and Lauryn offered to climb the alter. Sassy and Uriah staked their claim to guard the bottom of the tower, and everyone else fanned out through the pews, laying on their bellies, waiting for the attack.
That only left one person available to climb the tower with her.
Eric.
The blonde smirked at the Candor girl, when the realization dawned on her face.
"Well, this should be interesting."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Cordelia and Eric left the two Dauntless-born at the bottom of the stairs, before ascending up into the tower. It was a long climb, up many steps, before they finally reached level ground. Lia pushed open the door, stepping out into the slightly chilly, night air. If the view before was spectacular, then this was enchanting. She could see for miles, out over the empty city, and the stars twinkled in the sky above, along with the dazzling light of the moon.
She reluctantly pulled her gaze away from the scenery, snatching the blue, glowing flag from out of her jacket. Cordelia glanced around, searching for somewhere to tie the flag off, but nowhere immediately struck her.
Then, she remembered seeing the cross-shaped decoration on top of the bell tower. Even if the green team did manage to infiltrate this far up, they would have a very difficult time retrieving it from there.
"Help me with this," Lia stated simply, walking to the window, and throwing her leg over the side.
Eric's eyes went wide when he saw what she was doing, and quickly tried to deter her from going through with it. He rushed over and grabbed her arm, catching her questioning gaze, and shook his head 'no'.
"Are you fucking crazy?! What the hell are you doing?!"
"What is your problem? I'm climbing the rest of the way up. I'm going to tie it around that statue at the top. They won't make it that far."
"That's another fifteen feet, at least!"
The young leader's icy-blue eyes went wide at her words, and he shook his head, again. Lia scoffed, incredulously, at the blonde's reaction. She had a good plan.
"I can do it by myself then, if you're too scared," the dark-haired girl informed him, as she stood on the ledge, and hoisted herself up, and out of site.
Eric's eyes went dark, and his nostrils flared in anger.
"I'm not fucking scared!"
The blonde leader hurried to follow the amber-eyed girl, refusing to look down at the ground below. He saw her, about seven feet above him, climbing the sharp steeple. He cursed inwardly, before pulling himself to the roof, and ascending the spire.
Lia heard heavy breathing, and looked down, to see Eric climbing up, below her. She grinned when she saw the sweat beading on his forehead. She had let her attention waver, and she gasped when her foot slid against the slick, overlapping shingles.
Cordelia slid down, and she thought that she was about to take that trip, when an arm around her waist halted her rapid descent. The dark-haired girl fought to get her breathing under control, and looked up into the young leader's worried eyes.
He inclined his head to the side, asking if she wanted to go back, and forget this lunatic mission.
"I'm fine," Lia answered, shortly, shrugging out of his hold, before continuing to climb the tower. She reached the top, and grinned in satisfaction, as she tied the glowing, blue flag around the cross.
"See," she said, smirking at the blonde, who glared up at her. "All's well that ends well."
They climbed back down, and entered the tower once more, through the window. The dark-haired girl peering over the side, before settling down on the floor, and aiming her gun at the door. Eric was still breathing heavily, and his nervousness was apparent, though he tried to conceal it. He sat down next to the Candor transfer, and pulled his knees up, angling his head down as he tried to regulate his breathing back to normal.
Lia noticed this, and had to fight back the smirk that threatened to take over her face. "You're scared of heights."
The blonde shook his head, without looking up, and took a few, even, deep breaths before pulling out his pad and pen.
He handed her the small paper, and Lia had to squint to be able to read it in the darkness: Falling.
"Falling?" Cordelia looked up at the young leader, confused. "Seriously?"
Eric glared, dangerously, at the dark-haired girl, and she rose her hands in surrender. "Okaaaaay," she said, drawing out the middle vowel. The blonde rolled his eyes at the sarcasm in the Candor transfer's voice.
Eric fixed his gaze on the door, and Lia shifted her eyes to look at him in the light of the moon. The dark-haired girl noticed a small, sideways, Y-shaped scar on the left side of his head. She wondered how she hadn't noticed it, before. Now that she had discovered it, it was very noticeable, even in the darkness.
"How did you get that?" the Candor girl inquired, gesturing to the scar when he turned to look at her. Eric set his mouth in a thin line, and looked away, ignoring her question.
Cordelia was about to inquire, further, but stood to her feet instead, quickly, as the sound of gun fire sounded below them.
The green team was here.
The fire fight didn't last long, and no one from Four's team ever made it past the sanctuary in the lower level of the church. Violet had grabbed the green flag out of Marc's bag after she had shot him down, and was waving it victoriously in the air, when Lia and Eric descended the tower.
"We won!" she screamed, attacking the dark-haired girl with a violent hug, and a kiss to the cheek. Lia laughed, and Eric smirked at their celebration. Not that he had a problem with winning. He was a winner.