"Are we drunk?" Veronica asked Will with a confused look as they followed Christina and Al back to the dorms. She had had wine a few times before, but Erudite's did not drink to inebriation, it would kill too many brain cells.
"I think so." He answered in a stage whisper. A silly grin spread across his face. "I like it."
Veronica giggled, and Christina and AL stopped to stare at her. Veronica didn't giggle.
"You guys only had a couple drinks." Christina said with a mildly disgusted look.
"Erudite's don't drink." Will told her, his matter of fact tone losing some credibility as he stumbled over his words.
"In Candor we said drunk minds speak sober thoughts." Al told them with a reminiscent sigh.
"Well, we're all Dauntless now." Veronica said, before bursting into another fit of giggles. It didn't make sense why it was so funny, but it was to her.
The group was just ascending one of the paths to the dorms, when a scream of pure terror stopped them cold, the jovial mood instantly gone. A flash of black fell from above them, landing below with a sickening thud on the floor. Al reacted first, running back down to safe distance and jumping to the floor. Veronica, Will and Christina were close behind, and they stopped short to look at the figure lying with limbs bent at sickening angles.
"Jeremy." Veronica whispered, seeing the mop of blonde hair. She slid on her knees to him, leaving the others standing in shock. Please don't be dead. She turned the words over in her head, becoming a prayer, command, and chant simulatanously. Don't be dead, don't be dead, please don't be dead.
Veronica began gingerly touching his face, assessing his body for injuries. There was no blood and she had to bit her lip to the point of blood to prevent her from bursting into a fit of hysterical laughter. If there was no blood, he must be fine. You can't die if there's no blood.
"I'm going to get someone." Al stuttered, turning to sprint back to the pit, where there was still a crowd gathered.
A small moan came from Jeremy, and his eyes fluttered.
"Jeremy?" Veronica said in disbelief.
"What happened?" He muttered, lifting his head slightly, before giving up.
"Don't move. Don't." She urged. She took his hand and squeezed it softly. "You fell, but you'll be ok. Al went to get someone, and you'll be okay." She reassured, now biting the inside of her cheek, doing her best to keep the tears that were welling from spilling down her face.
"Good thing you're not Candor." He whispered with a ghost of his jovial smile on his face. "Terrible liar." His face twisted in confusion. "I fell?"
"You'll be fine." She choked out. She held tighter to his hand and moved it up to rest on her knees. His eyes tracked the movement.
"V. I can't feel your hand." He told her, looking sad not for himself, but to be delivering the news. "There aren't many wheelchair ramps in Dauntless."
Christina let out a sob and Veronica snapped her head back to look at where Will stood with her, his arm around her. Christina had her head buried in Will's shoulder, her shoulders shaking as she cried. "Get her out of here." Veronica hissed before turning her attention back to Jeremy. As Will gently moved Christina away, they were nearly run over by Dom, Zeke, Shauna, Lauren, Four and Al.
"Oh fuck me." Dom said, rubbing his hands over his face before grabbing his phone. "I need the med team in Section D, bottom level. We need a stretcher and whoever you can grab." He turned to the other Dauntless members and began handing out orders. "Zeke, get on the speaker and get the initiates back to the dorms. Lauren, Four, go keep your people in line until I get there. Shauna, keep people out of here."
The members moved quickly, their training taking over as they carried out Dominic's instructions without question. Dom approached Veronica carefully, getting down on one knee and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Ronnie." He said gently. "Ronnie, we got it, you need to go back to the dorms now."
"No!" She jerked away from his touch violently. "I'm not leaving him." The tears had begun to flow as she lost the small grip she'd had on her emotions. She began shaking as Dominic stood and pulled her up by her armpits.
"You need to go." Dominic whispered in her ear firmly. "Go back to the dorm." He repeated. "Go help your friends."
"He's my friend." She whimpered back, though she'd stopped her meltdown
"I know." Dominic told her, the corners of his mouth turning down. He ruffled her hair gently and pushed her gently toward where Four was waiting with Al, Christina and Will. Al attempted to put an arm around her as Will had done for Christina, but she shrugged it off, wiping her cheeks violently with the heels of her hands. Her shoulders tensed as she took a shaky breath, regaining her composure. Christina and Al exchanged a worried look behind her, but didn't say anything.
Once back in the dorm, Veronica kept her lips in a tight line as she paced back and forth by her bunk.
"What's happening?" Molly asked Four, irritation grating her already unpleasant voice.
"There was an accident." He answered gruffly.
The initiates stared at Four, before looking at Christina who was sitting on her bed, hiccupping as she sniffed back the last of her tears. "What kind of accident?" Myra asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
Four sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Jeremy fell. Now shut up."
"Fell?" Molly asked, snorting back a laugh. "Aren't Amity supposed to be graceful?"
Peter grinned wickedly, picking up Molly's train of thought. "I guess he wasn't good at being a Pansy anymore than he was at being Dauntless."
Veronica stepped around her locker, staring at Peter's back, her entire body tense.
"V…" Four said lowly, taking a step towards her.
She acted as though she didn't hear him, her entire focus on Peter.
"He's really hurt asshole."Christina said through hiccups. "He could've died."
"He probably realized what a joke it was that he was here and jumped. But, he was so worthless he couldn't even kill himself right, and now he'll just be another factionless drain on our city." Peter said with a cold smirk. "Who knows though, maybe he won't make it."
"Veronica!" Four yelled, reaching for her as she sprang forward, sprinting towards Peter and launching herself at him. His face barely registered surprise before he tumbled to the ground, Veronica already raining down blows before he could react.
"What the hell, you crazy bitch!" Peter yelled, trying to roll away or land a retaliatory blow.
Four pushed Molly out of his path and grabbed Drew's shirt, pulling him backwards and throwing him behind him. As Four was struggling to pull a rabid Veronica away from a bloody Peter, Dom walked through the door surveying the scene in front of him.
"What the hell is going on in here?!" Dom shouted from the doorway. The sound of his voice brought Veronica briefly back to her senses and Four yanked her off Peter, stumbling backwards as he did.
Four kept his hands on her shoulders, guiding her towards the door as she began struggling against him, her anger not yet spent. "I'll handle it." Four told Dom through tight lips as they passed him. Dom shook his head in frustration as he began heading towards Peter, muttering obscenities under his breath.
Once they were in the hall, Four pushed Veronica against the wall, pushing her back and pinning her shoulders when she tried to walk away. "STOP!" He told her as she struggled against him. He pressed his hands into her shoulders more firmly as the door opened and Dom came out, holding Peter by the collar while Peter held a shirt to his nose, attempting to staunch the flow of blood.
"Crazy Nose bitch." Peter spat towards her before Dom let go of his collar, letting him stumble to the floor.
"Oops." Dom said flatly as Peter struggle to his feet. "Hurry up!" Dom barked, yanking him back up and pushing him forward.
Once the two were out of sight, Four turned his attention to Veronica, his eyes seemed to be lit from within with anger. "Calm down." He told her firmly, but lowering his voice.
"You heard what he said!" Veronica began, before Four cut her off.
"Of course he said something terrible. He's a terrible person!" Four said, raising his voice again. "You are better than him!" He took a breath before saying quietly, "start acting like it."
"I can't just let him…" she said, though the anger in her voice was replaced with exhaustion.
"Yes. You can." He told her. "Let him run his mouth. You need to focus on yourself, so you can do something about assholes like him. If you get picked up for leadership, you can help Dom fix Dauntless and people like him will end up patrolling the wall instead of running the faction."
Veronica squirmed under his hands, and he removed them letting her slide to the floor. She put her head in her hands, glancing at Four as he sat next to her. "I just… couldn't let him say that about Jeremy." She said quietly, returning her gaze to the floor. "He couldn't defend himself."
"I know, trust me, if I could kick his ass out of here I would. But, you need to beat him in the rankings, instead of in the dorms." He nudged her slightly to get her to look at him. "The pain of you being ranked first will last a lot longer than that beating you just gave him… though his nose might never recover."
Veronica snorted and smiled in spite of herself. "Good." She said quietly before bringing her head up to stare directly at Four. His anger was gone and she studied his face carefully. "You think I could be ranked first?" She asked him, wearing a small appreciate smile. Four smiled back in spite of himself, finding it contagious.
"I think it's possible." He conceded.
She nodded, trying not to be disappointed that he didn't say more. "Thanks."
He stood offering his hand to pull her up. Once she was on her feet he asked, "are you ok?"
She nodded and they stood both acutely aware of the small amount of space between them. "Yeah." She said with a sigh. "I'm sorry…" she began. "Not that I hit him, I'd do that again." She clarified, ignoring his exasperated expression. "I'm sorry that I lost my temper."
"That's something at least." He told her, slapping her arm as he turned to leave her alone in the hall.
A/N- Please let me know if you are still interested in reading this story. Thanks!