A/N- Thank you so much for all of your reviews, alerts and favorites! They make my day!
The initiates lined up in the training room in front of Four, waiting for their orders for the day. They were halfway through the first stage of training and while the majority of their time had been spent working on hand to hand combat, they'd also had weapons training and several agonizing workouts. Today however, was something new.
"A lot of you probably think that knife throwing is pointless." Four told them, patting the flat of a knife into his palm as he paced in front of them. "I am here to tell you," he said, barely looking at the target to his left as he threw the knife. It landed in the bulls eye with a deep 'thunk', the handle vibrating from the impact. "It's just as important as anything else I teach you."
After a brief tutorial on how to properly throw a knife, the initiates lined up in front of their respective targets and the sound of knives hitting wood or clattering to the ground. Four watched them from a few yards back, trying to give them room to breathe while they figured out the new skill. He knew when Eric came to check in on them, they would have plenty of pressure.
His gaze moved over all of the people in front him, before settling on Veronica. His brow furrowed as she stared at the table with her knives on it, the unmarred wood in front of her signaling she had yet to throw a single knife. She reached for one, but Al, who was standing to her right, dropped his knife and she jumped, her whole body tensing. Four found her hesitance interesting. The past week she had been anything but hesitant. Her rifle accuracy was above average, her fighting was among the best, and her physical fitness was sufficient. This was her first sign of weakness, and Four couldn't blame her. He had spoken to Dom one night over beers about what happened to her, and Dom had almost broken his bottle when he talked about it he'd been so angry.
They cut her open with a dull knife, probably something they found in the trash. Dom spat through gritted teeth. That's why the scars are so bad.
As Four waited for her to make a move, Molly nudged Peter, pointing to Veronica, who had picked up a knife but just stared at it, jumping at the noises around her. Peter's lips curled into a sneer and he walked to her, Drew and Molly trailing behind him, as good little minions did. Ever since Veronica beat him in their first fight, he had been looking for anything to use against her. This was the first thing he'd been able to use, and he planned to get as much as he could from it.
"What's wrong? Scared of a little knife?" Peter asked her in a sing song voice.
"I guess we know how she got those hideous scars." Molly said through a satisfied smile.
Peter stepped closer to her, grabbing a knife off the table and holding it inches from her face. "What does it feel like to get sliced open?" He asked her, moving the knife in a pendulum motion in front of her. The knife Veronica had been holding dropped from her hand, clattering to the floor.
Veronica's body resembled a tightly coiled spring, the tension threatening to release at any moment. "Get out of my face." She told him slowly, not taking her eyes off of his. Her nails were digging into her palms, her posture defensive.
"Why? Are you scared?" Peter asked innocently, turning the knife so the blade faced her, only two inches of air between the sharp edge and her cheek. Four began walking towards them, ready to end the standoff before one of them lost it. Before he could reach them, Edward grabbed Peter's shoulder, pulling him backwards, nearly knocking him off his feet. "That's enough." Edward told him gravely, before going back to his target, ignoring Myra's scowl. He met Veronica's gaze for a moment and she mouthed 'thank you' to him. He nodded back and turned his attention back to the task at hand.
Peter looked ready to fight, but saw Four approaching, and backed away after shooting one last glance in Veronica's direction. Peter, Molly, Drew, Edward and Myra were spending most of their free time together, and it was clear that Peter didn't appreciate one of 'his people' going against him.
Veronica took a breath and retrieved her knife from the floor. She stared at her target again, but was so shaken up Four could see the knife moving in her shaky hands. Four debated leaving her to overcome her fear on her own, but Eric would be in any time now, and if he saw that she was afraid… it would be bad for her.
She glanced up as he stood next to her, taking the knife from her gently, his eyes studying her. "I don't like knives." She said quietly, her face a mask of shame.
"This isn't scored, but you have to know how to do it." He told her quietly. She nodded, before her head jerked towards the sound of a knife hitting the board. Four grabbed her chin and pulled her gaze back to him. "Don't look at them, look at me." He ordered, his face and tone stern. He lowered his voice to the point she had to strain to hear him and told her. "Eric will be in here soon, and you can't let him see you afraid."
She stared at him a minute, before nodding, letting out a deep breath that she wasn't aware she was holding in. He handed her the knife back keeping his hand on hers, and walked her through each step as he completed them. He pulled her hand back with his, before quickly throwing his arm forward. As he released her hand, she released the knife and she hit the target, though it was far from the bulls-eye. "Good." He told her, nodding his approval. "Just keep doing that, and you'll be fine." He assured her, turning to resume his observation of the rest.
"Thank you." She said quickly to his retreating back, doing her best to ignore that her hand seemed to burn from his touch. He paused in his stride, waving an acknowledgement and taking his spot back behind the initiates.
The obstacle course was one of Four's favorite parts of initiation. After demonstrating the obstacles and giving them a safety briefing that they were sure to ignore, Four left them with a couple Dauntless members who ran the course for members throughout the year and went to the observation deck overlooking the entire course. The initiates always enjoyed the day, it wasn't scored, and they took the chance to have fun during training. It was probably good that they didn't realize that joining Four on the observation deck were the five Dauntless leaders, most of them getting a good look at the initiates for the first time.
Four took a free spot next to Frank who was leafing through some of the initiate's files. "They look good this year." Trinity told Four with an approving nod, her gaze not leaving the course.
"Yeah, it's a strong group." Four agreed.
"Dominic isn't going to score the initiates this year; he doesn't want anyone to think he skewed the results for his sister." Frank said as he came to her file. "Though it looks like she's doing just fine on her own."
"I'll let the initiates know before rankings." Four said with a nod. He never thought Dom would be biased, but it was good to remove the speculation.
"Eric's told me a lot about her." Max told Dom, who didn't exactly look thrilled about Eric taking an interest in his sister. "Where'd she learn to fight?"
"I'm not really sure, must've learned it after I left." Dom said nonchalantly. He wasn't sure if he liked his sister getting this much attention from Max and Eric even though he knew she was leadership material.
"That's her biggest problem." Eric said, motioning to where Veronica was on the climbing wall, she had paused in her ascent and was yelling at Christina, urging her along and telling her where to place her hands and feet while she climbed. "She would have been over the wall and finished with the course if she didn't feel the need to help everyone else."
Four wasn't surprised she was helping them. On more than one occasion he'd found her in the training room with Jeremy and Al, doing her best to help them. It hadn't helped much, but they weren't the worst anymore, which may be enough to keep them around.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing." Trinity said.
Eric gave her a disbelieving look, but Max looked intrigued. Trinity was the second oldest leader, right behind Frank, and she was Max's mentor when he became a leader in training. He still took Trinity's advice seriously.
"If people think you have their best interests in mind, they will follow you anywhere." Trinity pointed to where Veronica just crossed the last obstacle, followed shortly by Christina, Will, Jeremy and Al. "She still finished before all of them, but now they think they did it together."
Max nodded as he watched the last of the initiates finish the course. "There's something to that." He mused. "It seems to work for you two." He said with a quick smile and wink at Dom and Four. The two exchanged looks, not sure if that was meant to be a compliment or an insult. It was difficult to tell with Max.
"Get up!" A voice boomed through the initiate dorms over the clanging of something metal hitting a locker. Veronica rolled out of bed, wishing that she was wearing more than a sports bra and shorts, as she tried to figure out what the hell was going on. She rubbed her eyes as the harsh florescent lights came on and saw Eric and Four standing in front of a group of Dauntless members who were stacking guns and other gear on the floor.
"Get dressed and be at the train in 7 minutes." Four said with a slight grin. The grin made Veronica uneasy, Four didn't smile much. Four's eyes scanned the half-awake initiates, pausing at Veronica. Seeing her ruffled from sleep made her look softer somehow, more vulnerable. He didn't expect it to intrigue him as much as it did, but he was finding it difficult to look away. She caught his gaze and covered her scarred stomach with her arm uncomfortably. He'd barely noticed them, but he assumed that when she looked at herself, they were a glaring flaw.
Eric's grin was more expected; he smiled all the time; but usually the things he smiled at most people wouldn't enjoy. "We're going to play a game." He told them excitedly. Some of the initiates shifted uneasily, while the others just stared blankly at him. He watched them for a second before realizing they were still standing in their spots. "Get moving!" He barked before the group left the room to get the Dauntless born initiates.
The initiates dressed quickly, grabbing a gun and vest holding paint balls and a flashlight. As they waited for the Dauntless born initiates and the Dauntless members, Christina and Veronica talked with Will and Al about what they could possibly be doing in the middle of the night. "It's obvious we are going to be shooting each other." Will told them.
"Thank God we have that Erudite mind of yours, or we would never figure anything out." Christina teased.
"V was an Erudite too, you never give her crap about it." Will grumbled.
"That's because Veronica doesn't state the obvious all the time." Al countered.
Veronica shrugged at Will, but couldn't keep the grin off her face.
"You're a great friend." Will told her with an eye roll.
Their conversation was interrupted as the Dauntless born initiates and Dauntless members came onto the platform in a loud, rowdy mob, drowning out any hope of conversation.
The initiates jumped onto the oncoming train, followed by Four and Eric, who quickly hushed the crowd.
"We're playing capture the flag." Eric told them, his boyish grin still plastered on his face. "Four and I will lead each team, and we'll have an equal number of transfers and Dauntless born on each team."
"Plus a few full members to keep things interesting." Four told them, leaning against the wall, his arms folded casually against his chest. His calm demeanor was the polar opposite of Eric's enthusiasm, but he was just as excited about the game. It was a favorite of his. "Eric lost last year, so he can go first." Four added with a small grin, shooting a quick glance at Eric.
"Fine." Eric said, through slightly clenched teeth, before his smile came back. "Transfer's first?" He asked Four who shrugged.
"Fine with me." Four told him.
"Alright." Eric said, looking the transfers over carefully. "Veronica."
Veronica exchanged a quick glance with Christina, before moving to stand by Eric's side. She was fairly certain he wouldn't pick Christina Will or Al unless left with no other options. He preferred strength to cunning. She was also fairly certain he'd picked her mostly to piss Four off. He threw an arm around her shoulder and she smiled at him encouragingly hoping that she was wrong about her assessment of him. She liked Eric; there wasn't much to dislike that she could see. He was strong, he was tough but she liked tough, he wasn't bad to look at, and he liked her. She was just concerned that he wasn't much of strategist, and wouldn't pick teammates that would work well together. Veronica wanted to win.
Four frowned, looking at Veronica who just shrugged. He had a plan that veronica was going to be a key part of, but that was blown to shit now. "Edward." He said quickly, hoping that he had been on Eric's short list.
They continued choosing until Eric had Peter, Molly, Al and Myra, and Four had Will, Christina, Jeremy and Drew. After picking their Dauntless born initiates, Eric rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Alright kids, let's do this."
A/N- PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! PLEASE? :)