AN: This chapter has the most words by far! I went a little crazy, and couldn't seem to find where I wanted it to end. Plus everyone gave me such nice reviews, although the single 3 from a random guest, that one leaves me with the most questions.

The amazing blackandwhiteangel13 helped edit this chapter, my first ever beta reader. It forced me to read through it a few times and change things as well, so thank you so much blackandwhiteangel13!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Valmar- I actually had another idea that was going to be harder to write so thank you for suggesting that! I hadn't even considered it really. Hasu, angel, Joki, Rachel, Valmar, Bedward, Kat, Mikaela, and Guest x2, you guys make me happy to check my mail.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

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Chapter Five

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Malachi seemed excited to finally have someone to talk to about medical inquiries, the fact that they could keep a conversation going about something that interested Reeve was refreshing. Something she hadn't had in a long time was someone to talk to about what she was reading or studying. In the past it had been her older sister who had also been interested in helping people, but Lou's hobbies were always so prone to change. When it came down to it the mutual significance had only lasted for about a year before the girl decided she liked animals instead.

The man had made sure to give her more painkillers before they started their lengthy debate about whether or not someone could survive without sleep. He'd mentioned that she appeared tired, and otherwise ill rested, though she assured him that she always looked as if she had just woken from a fitful sleep. He told her a few stories about Dauntless members that refused to sleep so they could train to get stronger, and ended up passing out after a small knock to the head during a fight. Her expression didn't even flinch when she told him about how she'd once been cooking dinner after not sleeping for three days. She'd passed out while going to set the table, and nearly fallen on a knife, perhaps if she had been in her room she may have lasted another day or so.

They spoke briefly about the weak points of the human body, and Reeve noticed the way Malachi's hazel eyes seemed to light up when he jumped to make a jab at one of her statements. She wondered faintly if she had ever been as energetic as he was to talk about an elbow to the kidneys; although, there was no way to know. Because after Lou's mind had been lured elsewhere there wasn't anyone else to talk to, and instead of forcing her boring babble onto Elaine she elected to stay silent.

It was fun, to let words fall out of her mouth so freely without having to worry about whether or not the person she was speaking to would take it the wrong way. Eric would surely look for some kind of way to startle her, Christina and Tris would lose interest. Al, and Will would wonder why she frowned in the middle of the sentence when memories of her brother floated to the surface; however, with Malachi, he seemed to understand that she was keeping some information at bay, away from him, and he was okay with that. As far as she could tell anyway, it was something small that made Reeve smile the smallest bit.

If she somehow ended up in the back room with Malachi in a month or so, to continue to talk about different methods, and laugh at stupid people she wouldn't mind it one bit. Perhaps if she was hidden away in the medical quarters Eric would see it as too much of a hassle to even make the journey back there, and leave her alone. She hoped his leader duties would consume his time by the end of the initiate training, and he would disappear altogether.

There was a soft knock that drew them out of the conversation. and averted their eyes towards the entranceway to the room. The familiar dark haired head of Christina peeked around the corner, and grinned at her.

"Wow, you look like crap," she joked trying to get a laugh out of the red head. She'd meant it to be silly sounding, to lighten the mood, but the red head knew better than to take a Candor transfers words lightly. Reeve stared at her blandly, and sighed, unsure of what she had been expecting she turned to look at Malachi. "Can she leave yet?" She questioned the man in front of her. Tris, and Al had been moved to a different room in order to allow Reeve, and Malachi to talk without having to whisper at each other across the room. It also helped the man watch for anyone new that might walk through the doorway with blood dripping down their arm or whatever.

"She's taken enough pain killers to successfully walk," he said with a chuckle.

"Good, because I need her," she muttered before walking over to Reeve, and urging her to stand.

She'd been there for about six hours, sleeping for a couple, waking up with a headache, recovering, and then speaking with the doctor who was more than happy for a conversational partner. By now the sun had gone down, and dinner had already been served. Malachi had managed to get some food sent to them, because he almost never left his domain. Christina had been mulling ideas over in her head ever since Reeve told them about her brother, and showed them her scar. Finally, she had a good one to give to the girl.

Pulling her to unwilling feet Christina tugged at her friend to follow her out of the room while the doctor laughed, and smiled at them mischievously, as if he knew what she was thinking about.

"Why?" Reeve asked before they turned the corner.

"I have an idea," she explained, before glancing back at Malachi for a second.

"See you later Reeve," he called out to the girl with a smirk on his face. As if he understood that Reeve seemed slightly bothered to have a friend that was so pushy, and truthful all the time.

They walked down the hallway, and away from the medical ward until Reeve recognized the familiar passageway that led to the haircutting room, and tattoo parlor. She stopped walking next to Christina just as the purple faded lights touched her toes, and tainted her pale skin with a neon color.

"Another tattoo?" She questioned eyeing the grinning girl next to her.

"I'm not getting one," she explained making Reeve narrow her eyes at her companion. "You are."

"Why would I do that?" Her question was simple, and Christina had been expecting it. Already she'd worked out what she would say in response.

"You know what you should do with that scar on your back?" She mused priding herself on having such a good thought for her friend. "Get a tattoo over it, then you won't have to be ashamed to look at it," she said trying to get her friend as excited as she was.

Her comment made Reeve stiffen slightly, she wasn't ashamed of it, and the scars were just pieces of her that she had to carry around with her for the rest of her life. Memories that hurt to think about, bumps on her skin that seemed to warp beneath her fingertips, stain her clear skin, twisted, and dark. They were parts of her body that had sewn themselves back together after getting torn apart by someone she trusted.

"I'm not ashamed of them," she finally growled.

Christina was slightly taken aback; she hadn't expected Reeve to be so abrupt about the scar. She thought her friend would jump at such a thought, and wonder why she hadn't done it sooner.

"If you cover it up you can forget about it," she tried to make her see the reasoning that had transpired in her own mind.

"What if I don't want to forget," her voice was cold, and got on Christina's last nerve.

"Then you're holding onto the past, and you don't need it," she said shortly before turning away from Reeve, and walking past her. "Think about it," she muttered before walking off with a shake of her head.

Mismatched eyes watched her stalk away. She'd been excited to finally have an idea for the girl, and Reeve had simply shot down every attempt she had made at selling her case. The red head leaned against the wall in front of the faded purple light emitting space in front of her. All the comments Christina had made swirled in her head savagely.

It didn't feel like she was holding onto anything from the past, and yet everything that had happened to her in Erudite was a direct reflection of who she was as a person here in Dauntless. Her brother had beaten, and lectured the cheerfulness out of her. Reeve proved it by not smiling; as much as, she used to. In that regard Collin had won, and yet she had escaped him in the end to a place where he couldn't reach, she'd won. He wasn't here, and yet every time she looked at the scars on her body he was there in her mind, sneering at her, and calling her names even though he was nowhere to be seen. Christina was right, as of right now her past was still defining her, and it had to stop. If she was going to be her own person, and stop thinking about how life used to be, she'd have to start with removing Collin completely.

For years he had had control of her life, he knew where she went day after day, and what she was reading. He knew just how to threaten her to make her listen, repeat what he was saying to her, but now she was alone. Collin had no place in her life anymore. If he had no place anywhere in her mind, then there was no reason to keep his marks on her body, so blatant for everyone to see. Right now he was still with her, the scars on her body proved that he had something to do with making her who she was. She didn't have to put up with it.

With hardened, and angry eyes Reeve walked into the room, and began to look at all the different designs that she could pick from. None of them seemed to catch her attention, until finally she saw something she liked. To others it might have only appeared as some sort of maze, with circles wrapped around each other repeating in layers, and layers, trapping an unlucky person inside. Immediately Reeve recognized it from a book she had once read on how living things age, and record time, it was a tree ring. With thin lined circles, one after the other, after the other, never touching, and yet still connected, with all the years that had gone by.

She picked it off the wall carefully, and let her fingers trace the dark lines before going over to one of the many people sitting down ready with their tools for inking. Sitting down with a pale skinned woman whose hair was dyed red, and yellow Reeve showed her the glass of what she wanted to cover her skin.

"Where do you want it?" She questioned, wondering whether or not she needed to change the size of it or not.

"I'll show you," she responded, while pulling off her jacket slowly.

-0-0-

Christina didn't pester Reeve when she came back that night, the Candor transfer had gotten used to seeing her stoic friend either agree to things with a bland expression, or frown, and walk away. She'd never gotten such a response out of the red head before; she'd never seen the girl laugh, and smile afterwards. Or turn red in anger, and growl at someone bitterly. Sometimes her thin lips would turn down into a frown, or her eyes would harden, but never had she heard Reeve growl.

Everyone else was already in their respective cots, sleeping the night away when she arrived back in the area to slink carefully under the covers. She'd gone back to the medical ward to see if Tris or Al had woken up since she'd been gone; instead, she ran into an excited Malachi who told her that her sparring partner had left shortly after she had. Tris looked the same as she had when Reeve left her, and according to Will there wasn't any good news waiting for her when she woke. After telling the red head to call him Mal, the man gave her some more painkillers before sending her off to bed with a grin. She made sure to sneer at him while walking out the door, she could hear him laughing from down the hallway.

That night she slept well, a faint smile found its way onto her lips as she thought about the new additions to her pale skin. The best part was that if one were to move their fingers over the ink they would still be able to feel the bumpiness of scarred flesh.

The next morning she woke up early, her head only throbbed slightly, and she easily shrugged it off before pulling herself out of bed, and getting dressed. While pulling on her pants Christina roused awake next to her, and noticed the new tattoo on her back; Before the girl could say anything Reeve winked at her. A soft smile found its way onto her lips, in the end Christina had been trying to help her, or perhaps she wanted to have something to talk about where the Reeve would respond. But either way, she'd wanted to assist Reeve in getting rid of her brother, and for that she was grateful. The Candor transfer grinned at her sluggishly before rolling over, and snuggling back into her covers, she could still sleep for an hour or two. Just because Reeve liked to sprint around the compound before anyone else woke up didn't mean that she had to.

For ten minutes the jog was fine, it successfully stole her thoughts away from other things like Eric and Tris. Reeve had looked at the scoreboard the night before. Their friend was below the line, and there was nothing any of them would be able to do to help her get above it, not when she hadn't woken up yet. While running the only thing she ever seemed to focus on was her breathing, if she kept it steady it meant that she was okay to keep going. When she'd first started training early in the morning with Tris her throat would choke, and sputter after a short ten minutes, but now she could go close to an hour without lagging.

It was only when she started running towards the Pit, and reveled at the feeling of sunlight coming through the glass did Reeve waver in her footsteps. The very person she didn't want to see had just turned the corner, and even though he hadn't seen her yet she jerked to a stop. For a second she was static, stiff, hoping that in the few moments she was hesitating that he wouldn't glance her way, and smirk at her. Finally, her brain responded, and she sprinted in the direction of the medical ward. She'd been planning on checking Tris after her jog was over, but she could always do it right now.

When was the last time she had adamantly avoided someone? Even with her brother she'd never made an effort to stay out of his way, because if she wasn't there to beat on he would move on to one of her other siblings. She would grit her teeth, and make sure to always be there whenever he got home from his day of work, to make sure that he wasn't going to hurt anyone else she cared about. Perhaps she'd never been this cautious about someone. Every time she thought about the young leader a frown etched its way onto her lips before her mind became clogged with the feeling of him being so close to her. How ashamed she had felt to be so weak in front of him, that he had to support her, the fact that she had been within someone's arms, so embarrassing.

Reeve growled bitterly to think that she was somewhat afraid of him, or perchance not afraid, but cautious of his proximity to her. Out of all the initiates he seemed to like her the most, for what reason she did not know, because as far as Reeve knew of herself she wasn't exciting. After a few years of her brother telling her that if she smiled she was sure to end up at Amity, and how it just wasn't going to happen she stopped. Never had she been one for friends or sharing emotions, she didn't smile that much, and if she didn't like someone she barely spoke to them at all. There had to be more interesting people than her in Dauntless, why did he only pick on her?

-0-

"Will and Myra, you're up first today," Eric commanded, while walking towards the group of initiates slowly.

After eating breakfast with Christina, Al, and Will had all moved on to the training room. Tris was still out from the day, though Mal said she would probably wake up soon. They'd been practicing their hits with Four's instruction before the Dauntless leader decided to show up, much to everyone's dismay. The only thing that made his appearance better was the dirty blonde haired man behind him, Reeve quickly switched from Eric's gaze to that of the hazel eyed Malachi behind him.

"Where's the stiff?" His question made a few initiates falter in their movements, as they glanced at each other warily.

"She hasn't woken up yet," Will was the first one to speak up.

"I guess she's out then," he said, trying to keep a dull expression on his face.

Reeve's gaze had turned back to him in the middle of his comment, her mismatched eyes glared at him darkly, the corners of her mouth turned down slightly. There was something different about her that he hadn't noticed at first, on her right forearm there were thin lines of black ink that wrapped themselves around her flesh. He'd seen the tattoo many times when he'd gone in to get his own done, a tree ring, circles that followed the outline of more circles. It was a small spot on her otherwise pale skin, probably only an inch, and a half in diameter, it contrasted greatly against normally clear complexion. The stain of dark ink made her look older, and somehow more mature, as she stared him down. Eric found himself wondering how she would react if he had her in his grasp, and was to trace each circles individually until he made it to the last ring. Would she squirm, and shiver against him? Or would she give him what he wanted, and let that crimson color dust across her cheeks again.

Either way, he couldn't bring his attention away from her form until he heard someone say the name that was heavy on his own tongue.

"How's your head, Reeve?" Malachi asked, before wandering over to the red heads side.

"Well enough to not need pain killers," she mumbled, tearing her gaze away from Eric's own cold stare.

"And here I thought you were becoming addicted," the medic laughed.

"Hardly," she responded, before turning her attention to Christina, as she wished Will good luck.

Eric watched the two of them for a second, wondering why he now felt so angry that someone else was talking to the initiate. Reeve was allowed to speak to people freely, she'd done so since she arrived at Dauntless; although, she often chose not to converse with most people, because she saw them a waste of time. It shouldn't bother him that she spoke to other people, right?

"Fight," he snarled, when he noticed that the two transfers in front of him made no move to start.

It was a strange feeling, to be angry at someone for the simple act of speaking to another person. Although, it only mattered, because it was Malachi, a member of Dauntless Eric didn't exactly hate, nor like in any way, the man was simply useful, and needed. A person that Eric was glad to have under his command when needed be, there weren't too many initiates that come through the roof with medical background. For some reason, whenever he saw Malachi next to Reeve it made him bitter towards the man, he didn't like it.

The girl didn't even speak to the man all that much during training, she treated him the same way she treated everyone else. If he made a viable comment that she was interested in she would speak to him, but if it was worthless she said nothing. Apparently Malachi knew just what to say, because Reeve was talking more to the doctor than she had with anyone else.

Angry with himself for getting so worked up Eric squashed his own feelings, especially because they were confusing, and foolish to him. Why should he be angry that she was talking to other people, other guys? Why did she never speak to him like that?

"Alright it's break time," Eric finally shouted at everyone after another fight. "Meet at the train in three hours for War games," his voice pierced through everything.

Again, the emotion found him when Reeve, Christina, and Will left with Malachi towards the medical bay; he said something that made the other girl laugh while the red head offered him a suspicious glance. It was a playful expression that Eric had not yet seen the girl make, because she was always on guard around the leader it was hard to get anything, but shock or irritation from her. Only once had he ever gotten her to blush, and that had been by accident. Why did they get to see more of her emotions than he did?

The next time he saw Reeve she was alone, her friends had already jumped aboard the train before her, and she had to run for a moment before her hand found the bar it was looking for. Easily she slung herself inside where Will was waiting to give her a hand up, she didn't take it, but the boy latched onto her shoulder anyway. He saw her stiffen under the other initiates touch, and shrug him off before shying away from him as much as she could. Will didn't seem to notice, but Eric did. It reminded him of all the times he'd been near to her, and she'd shivered at the closeness of their skin.

It was obvious that she didn't like to be touched, how he hadn't realized it before was a mystery. That was the reason why she was always so anxious to get away from him, or refuse help from anyone that was in contact with her. It was the reason behind her blush when he'd been helping her to the medical ward, she'd been surprised; more than anything she'd wanted to get away from him, because it was uncomfortable for her.

He grinned darkly at his new discovery, and wondered when he could test it out. Perhaps during the game he would find her alone, and try something else. From the middle of the train car Eric saw the stiff get pulled on board by Four, as far as he knew the girl was done, and should be out on the street. Yet she was back here, being stubborn, and not giving up like any other Dauntless inside the compound.

"Who let you out?" he questioned, breaking up the mild chatter between the stiff, and her friends. Reeve was giving him a wary look, as if she knew what was coming next, but perhaps it was time to surprise her again.

"I did," Tris replied, blandly.

"You did," he let his eyebrows raise slightly. They held each other's gaze for a second before he spoke again."Okay," he said before turning away from them slowly.

Reeve watched him walk back towards the other side of the train car; he'd been staring at her for a second with a mischievous look in his eyes before showing her his back. She was happy that Tris was staying, but somehow felt like she was missing something.

"The game is simple," Four explained, while placing two black objects on the floor. "It's like capture the flag," he glanced, towards Tris, and the rest of them for a second.

Eric was the next to step up, rolling open the black fabric to reveal red weapons that were made to look like guns, but seemed to hold no bullets. The leader picked one up lazily, as if he'd been handling them his whole life, and knew exactly what to do with the thing.

"Weapon of choice," he held it up for everyone to see. Only when Molly made a snide comment did he demonstrate how to use it by shooting her in the leg, showing everyone how comfortable it was in his hands. The transfer grunted in pain, and held her screams back carefully, falling against the side of the train, and looking at the small spot that a dart was sticking out of her leg. Eric leaned down, and snatched the thing from her skin. "Neurostim darts, stimulates the pain of a real gunshot wound, only lasts a couple minutes," he explained, relishing in their shocked faces.

Reeve didn't offer him anything; her expression was as bland as ever, as far as she was concerned, as long as she didn't get shot there was nothing to worry about. Even if somehow someone were to get her, it wasn't like she hadn't felt pain before, she'd deal with it.

"Two teams, Four, and I are captains," Eric said, glancing at everyone. This year he wanted to win, after he got the flag from Four's base the plan was to find Reeve, and see just how much she hated being touched. First he had to ensure that he wasn't going to lose again this year, because he was a Dauntless leader, and Four was nothing compared to him, there was no reason for him to lose. Immediately Eric's mind was clouded with where he should hide the flag ,and which guys he should put on his team.

"You pick first," Four said, as if to give the man a head start. Reeve could tell that Eric was excited to finally be able to beat out his rival, she was just happy his gaze had left her for a while.

"Okay," he muttered, "Edward."

"I'll take the stiff," Four spoke catching Tris, and Christina's attention.

"Ohh, picking the weak ones so you have someone to blame when you lose," Eric tried to find his reasoning. If there was anything he was certain of today, it was that if he picked the better fighters be would win. He'd make Reeve stay in the back, and guard the base so when they won he could find her easily.

"Something like that," Four responded, with a small smile.

"Peter," Eric chose the next one.

"Reeve," Four said with a grin.

Eric almost growled, he hadn't been expecting the other captain to pick Reeve, she was small, and fierce, but didn't seem to like negotiating with other people. He hadn't thought about what he would do if Four decided to pick her on his team; he'd been too focused on where to hide his flag, and how he was going to take the other man out.

"Molly," he finally sneered.

In the back of the train Reeve wanted to sigh in relief after Four chose her to be on his team, she'd assumed her name would be the first one out of Eric's mouth. Four certainly knew how to piss the other man off.

When they were in the middle of a dark deserted road Four stopped them short, and had them turn off their lights before asking them what their strategy was. That was when the whole team exploded; everyone started talking over top of each other, and couldn't seem to make up their mind. Reeve barely noticed Tris, and Four slip away, and move an old Ferris wheel. When she was younger Lou had shown her a picture of them in an old book. Once upon a time when the lights probably lit up at night, and carried happy excited children with their parents, but now it was just an empty shell.

Not wanting to just hang around, and listen to the others argue Reeve pushed past the people next to her to jog down the road.

"Where are you going?" Al yelled at her.

"To scout," she shouted, before turning a corner, and disappearing from their sight.

After about two minutes of walking through the abandoned buildings around her Reeve wished she had more time to just explore, and she almost didn't want to go back to her team at all. It was only when she heard someone shouting her name that she appeared back on the road everyone was sprinting down. They told her the new plan once she showed up, Reeve only had one goal in the siege upon Eric's base, to shoot the man in the leg, and walk away while laughing at him. That alone would feel like enough payback for everything he had been doing to her up until now.

"We're splitting into two groups, we'll go up towards the flag," Tris started to explain. As of current Reeve had been placed in the group with her friends, because she was quick and would more than likely be able to beat someone in hand to hand. "The others will stay down here to engage Eric," she motioned towards Four, and his own group.

"Can I change groups?" She suddenly spoke up surprising her friends, and their captain.

"Why?" Christina questioned, did she not want to be one of the people who helped capture the flag?

"I want to shoot Eric a few times," her answer made them laugh. Four clapped her on the shoulder and, pulled her towards his own group with a grin.

"Well we wouldn't want to keep you away from that."

Quickly they rushed towards their destination, and without too much warning there were darts flying everywhere, finding homes in peoples arms, and legs, or missing completely.

"Light them up," a voice shouted. The dark night sky lit up with red as Eric's team threw flares into the air so they would be able to see a little better. Some of their team stayed behind to make it look like they had been stopped in their tracks by the fire, and swarm of shots from the other team. Reeve didn't doubt that the person who'd shouted was Eric, he seemed like the type of captain who wouldn't let anyone else have input into the plan.

"On me," Four muttered towards them. Tris stayed next to the man while Christina, and Reeve followed closely behind until a few people from the other team split them up. The red head figured that she had a better chance at facing Eric if she stayed next to Four, and decided to follow him towards the mess of people in front of them. Perhaps if she came around the other side of the enemy she'd have more of an advantage.

Without too much thought she broke away from them, carefully dodging darts while making her way to the other side of the air vents that made good covers on the roof. She turned a corner sharply to run into someone from the other team, the woman was startled at first before fumbling to point her gun at Reeve who'd already pulled the trigger. Quickly she moved around the woman's shaking form as she slunk into the ground before someone took her legs out from under her. Angrily Reeve pulled herself to her feet before turning to snarl at the person responsible, her eyes narrowed darkly upon seeing who it was.

Eric smirked at her devilishly; she had to have the worst luck in the world to run into him alone. If anything she'd hoped to catch the man off guard while he was trying to hit Four. She'd shoot him in the shoulder, and laugh before leaving him to growl dangerously on the floor with three darts sticking out of his clothes. But of course that wasn't how things had happened, he'd found her instead, and even caught her by surprise in her attempts to claim the upper hand.

All at once she reached for her gun only to have the man knock it out of her hands, away from them, then aiming his own towards her shins. With a little bit of a struggle she was able to get his gun away from him; her eyes followed the red glint of metal as it fell in the gravel beneath their feet. Reeve started to throw punches at him, all of which he either dodged or merely brushed aside, and it was beginning to make Reeve angry, if he wasn't going to fight back what was the point of this? The next punch she threw at him was awkward, and threw her off balance, to her dismay she felt a hand close around her fist, and yank her forwards.

Strong arms closed around her form as Eric tightened his grip on her, she thrashed to get out of his hold. With the way that he had her restrained Reeve was flush up against his chest, her hands pushing uselessly against him as he leaned down to whisper something in her ear.

"You know what I found out today?" He questioned ,purposefully breathing onto her ear. She shivered, and trembled in his arms, trying her best to kick the man, though she was much too close to even get enough force going to hurt him.

Instead of answering she snarled at him darkly, a sound that made him chuckle. He looked down at her expression briefly to see an annoyed expression on her face, and she also seemed to be getting frustrated with him. He made her walk towards cover with him as a few darts zipped past them dangerously. So far there hadn't been any complications, but Eric was sure it would happen. He let his hand travel from restraining her shoulder towards the smooth skin of her neck, the pale flesh was just as welcoming as it had been the first time he'd seen it.

She hadn't answered him yet, but Eric hadn't expected her to, not when he was making sure that her form was flush against his own. He was happy to speak in her silence.

"You don't like to be touched," his voice was wispy on her skin.

"Wow," she grunted, while trying to twist his arms away from her. "You found out something pretty obvious, you must be proud of yourself," her voice turned icy against him. After all that the man had done now he was going to mock her for having such a pathetic weakness, Reeve was already pissed off at him for always picking on her. Now there was a whole new reason for her to be angry, yet for some reason she couldn't help, but blush at the feeling of his rough hands on her neck.

Eric knew it was a blatant weakness that he should have been able to figure it out sooner, but he'd been too focused on the subtle expressions that Reeve refused to show him, and everyone else for that matter. Even when he'd gotten right behind her on purpose he chose to ignore the small movement away from him in favor of relishing the shiver that crossed through her form like a wave crashing against shore. The first time he'd touched her the blush on her cheeks was too distracting for him to notice the way she squirmed in his grasp. Really, he should have figured it out sooner.

What Reeve, and Eric didn't know was that Four had turned around to have the younger girl lead the way only to see that she wasn't there. He assumed that she had gone a different route in search of her target, and didn't think anything of it until he saw Eric fighting with someone smaller than him, and jerk that person towards him crudely. He hadn't much cared for the girl at first, but after seeing the way she took care of all her friends without asking for anything in return, the way she helped them in silence, won him over. She was Tris's friend, and the least he could do was help her when she was outmatched.

One of Eric's guys jumped in front of him, Four quickly wrestled the man to the ground, and knocked him out with the butt of his gun before he aimed towards the ankle a few feet in front of him, and fired.

Before Reeve knew what was going on Eric growled darkly in her ear, and slumped towards the ground slightly, all she cared about was that his grip on her loosened considerably. Her gaze set into a determined glare while she took a deep breath, trying to figure out the best way to get away from the man behind her. She twisted fiercely in his hold with a small smirk on her face; Eric caught the movement too late, and tried to tighten his grip. Reeve responded by kneeing him in the crotch, something she had wanted to do ever since she'd seen him grin at her as if she was a mouse, and he was an eagle.

His powerful form crumpled to the ground while his gaze turned fiery, and ablaze as he glared at her. It made Reeve feel superior to him, if only just a little bit. Even as she heaved from the effort in front of him Eric noticed the small blush that was still disappearing from her cheeks, and in that regard he had been triumphant.

She moved away from him, and towards her discarded gun a second too late as he reached to grab her again, his hand closed tightly around her ankle, and he wasted no time in yanking her form backwards. At the same time Reeve's fingers linked around the handle of the dart gun in front of her. As he pulled her backwards she turned her body until she was on her back, and pointed the red barrel at his chest.

Eric was impressed that she had even managed to surprise him; although, whoever had shot him from behind had had something to do with that. If he found out who did it they would have hell to pay later, he'd had her in his grasp; the feeling of her smooth skin beneath his fingers had been so invigorating he wanted to scream in frustration at how close he had been.

"Finish him so we can go," a voice finally spoke from behind them. It made the leader want to snarl; he knew that voice anywhere, and didn't have to turn around to know that Four was standing behind them.

He glared at Reeve darkly, forming a new plan in his mind that he wasn't certain about, but if he were to threaten the transfer surely she would cave under his stern gaze.

"If you shoot me-," she didn't give him time to finish. In mid-sentence her eyes met his in a dead stare before she pulled the trigger, and shot him in the chest. In response he let go of her leg, and grunted in repressed pain. Reaching angrily to pull the dart out of his chest, and ankle, he looked up just in time to see Four grin at him before leading Reeve away, and towards where the flag was hidden.

She soon vanished from his sight, as he pulled himself into a sitting position against one of the vents behind him. Grinding his teeth together venomously, he wondered when would be the best time to grab her later. She wasn't going to get off easy for shooting him, he'd make her pay.

.

AN: The next part of this story is going to be awesome... I can't get it out my head right now, bleh, maybe I'll just watch a bunch of movie trailers for an hour. I had to restrain myself from writing circles circled circles, because where it does make sense it sounds ridiculous.

What did you think? Jealous Eric has just began to come to life, and yet he hasn't fully bloomed yet, that part comes later. Take a guess at what Reeve's punishment is going to be, I'm curious as to what you guys think will happen. It might just sway my decision as to what goes into the later chapters.

Thanks for reading!