AN: Guess what it's almost time for?! Spring break! Which means You will get a new chapter at least by the 14th or 15th, because where it will be spring break for me I still have to go in and print stuff on campus... That's not to say that I won't be too busy to write something, I'm actually kind of anxious to write the next chapter.

Thanks a bunch for all the reviews! It always makes me happy when people guess what's going to happen next, because sometimes it gives me an idea and I use it in the next chapter. So if you ever have an idea, go ahead and tell me, it might just make it in.

By the way right in the beginning of this part is something that happened in the book and not the movie, so if you only watched the movie and are wondering wtf? It's okay, I haven't actually read the whole book yet and was wondering if the mental tests would be similar enough when I read that part and decided to include it.

Also, make sure to thank Blackandwhiteangel13 for taking time out of her busy schedule to edit and make this chapter presentable.

On to the chapter!

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Chapter Eight

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A scream woke Reeve from her deep sleep, and then there was the rush of initiates that surged into motion all around her. She pulled herself to her feet, and tried to get her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Tris was the first one to react when the lights came on, to illuminate the figure of Edward, on the ground, with a knife in his eye. Reeve couldn't help but think about how that might've happened.

It was a butter knife from the cafeteria; she'd often disregarded the useless, barely serrated, pieces of metal in favor of her teeth. Someone would have to use a lot of force if they ever wanted to harm someone with it; although, with the access point being someone's eye, certainly it wouldn't nearly be as hard as sinking it into one's chest. It was the dark though that flooded her mind, before her thoughts changed direction, and she rushed out of the room quickly, her bare feet pounding into the ground as she sprinted for the med bay.

There's was no one on the way to the medical ward, and the only thing in Reeve's mind is the puddle of blood that seemed to outline Edward's head.

It took mere minutes for her to reach the place where Mal was usually lounging in one of the many beds meant for patients, she was breathing quickly in lieu of her rapid movement. There was no sign of cheerful hazel-eyed Mal anywhere in the area, instead only a single nurse that Reeve had met only once. Her name was Cecil, or CC as everyone else called her.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, seeing the way the redhead had launched herself into the room so quickly.

"Someone's been stabbed in the eye," she answered, with a rasp in her voice.

CC was usually out and about taking care of menial matters, like house visits for people who couldn't get out of bed, or taking medicine to the children who had come down with the flu. Reeve usually saw her talking with others, smiling as if she herself had stolen a ray of sunshine, and was keeping it in her pocket. In front of her, the woman's eyes hardened, and her posture straightened considerably before she strode towards the transfer with a newfound strength that was common in Mal when there was an emergency.

"Take me there," she said sternly.

All at once, they were rushing back to where it happened, despite all that had occurred only hours before with Eric, Reeve's mind was elsewhere. It had been hard for her to get to sleep with him raging around inside her head. Now her only thoughts were of Edward, and how CC could be so admirable and cheerful after all that the nurses, and doctors in Dauntless went through.

It's only been about eight minutes since Reeve rushed from the room; Tris is on the ground next to Edward, doing her best to calm him down, while Myra is crying silently at her boyfriend's feet. CC ushers Tris out of the way before assessing the situation, Reeve glances numbly back at the bloody puddle around the figure below them, her mind already becoming numb to the thoughts in her mind.

"Reeve right?" CC's voice breaks her concentration. Her mismatched gaze falls on the woman, her chest still heaving from the run that would have destroyed her weeks ago. "Mal speaks highly of you, won't you help me?" She questions, searching her expressionless face for an answer.

"Of course."

Mal returned quickly after hearing about a boy being stabbed in the eye, only to see that the situation was already being taken care of, CC and Reeve made a good team. Even though the redhead was still only an initiate, and a transfer, it was safe to say there was already a place where she would belong. CC, who was always cheerful though rarely spoke praise of anyone was impressed by the little transfer, in such a risky event she had been smart, and gone immediately for help when she knew it was something she couldn't handle. When asked to help there was no hesitation in her response, this was the job she was meant to have, even if she didn't necessarily like people, she could still help them.

"Mind watching them for the rest of the day?" Mal muttered, watching Myra rush over to Edward's side as soon as she is allowed to enter the room.

"Only if I have to," she responded, washing a bloody rag.

"Well," he faltered, letting a grin work its way onto his face. "What if I said you do?"

"Then you'd be lying," she frowned, at him slightly. He whistled in response, laughing shortly before patting Reeve on the shoulder.

"Can't get anything past you," he chuckled, eyeing the dark marks on her neck and shoulder.

In her haste to help, Reeve hadn't even considered to put on a different shirt. At the present she was wearing was a tank top, and short shorts. It was what she always wore to bed, because if she had a bad dream, and began to toss and turn, there would be less to tangle herself in. It was something that would happen to her in Erudite, sometimes she would sleep soundly, and others she would wake up in tears with a blanket wrapped around herself tightly.

"Aren't you cold? What's on your neck? Who did it to you?" He questioned, all at once raising his fingertips to brush against the dark bruises gently. She almost flinched away from him, but stopped short at the last second, Mal wasn't going to do anything to hurt her.

"Yeah, a little cold," she murmured, completely ignoring the latter two questions. Mal offered her a stern gaze when she spoke no further. "Some jerk," she finally mumbled, turning her gaze away from him.

"Do I know this jerk?" He asked, with a frown on his face.

"More than likely."

"Well next time he tries, hit him in the crotch or something," Mal commented, before going off to check up on Edward.

Reeve spent the rest of the day with Edward, Myra, and Mal in the medical ward; Mal was instructing her how to complete certain tasks, and injuries that were common in Dauntless. How to shove a shoulder blade back into place or apply pressure to a head wound in order to stop the bleeding. He told her stories about silly injuries, and predicaments he sometimes found people stuck in. She'd completely forgotten that they had the day off, and had been ready to start mental training, but was instead grateful to have a day to herself. Even if she had spent the whole day in the med bay, it was a welcome break to be among friends, if CC even counted as a friend that is.

Through the whole day, her mind had been on different things, now that it was nighttime again, and they were back in their beds Reeve was left to sort through her own thoughts numbly. After being patched up, and taken care of, Edward and Myra left, meaning that Al wouldn't be cut, and Peter was number one. More than likely it had been Mr. Number One himself that got rid of Edward, who had been in front of him before. If Peter hadn't proven himself a force to be reckoned with, he'd at least shown them all that if they were ever above him, expect a knife in the eye.

She couldn't help but think about the puddle of blood that had been stewing in the back of her brain all day; tomorrow was finally the time for mental training. If anyone asked her how she felt about it, there was no need to lie, or even room for it, Reeve was nervous.

=0=0=

"In front of what you fear most, you have to be calm," Fours words resonated in her head, as the room around her faded into darkness.

The morning had been like any other, save for the looming threat of mental training that teetered above them like a wall just beginning to tip towards them. Mal saw them that morning, and wished them luck, not without mentioning that after he'd gone through with it, there was nothing else that could even compare to the feeling of fear. If that was supposed to comfort them it had failed miserably; although, the man had offered them a smile, and patted Reeve on the back before moving towards the med bay.

Reeve had turned to growl at him, only to see Eric walking into the cafeteria, Mal nodded at the Dauntless leader before continuing on his way. The man found Reeve's gaze almost immediately in the crowds, and tapped his neck with a grin. She frowned blandly, tired of wasting her thoughts on such a man.

Four had walked them down a hallway before calling Drew into the room first, they watched people stumble from the room shaking, screaming, and crying. Some of them needed assistance leaving, making the rest of the people waiting outside cringe, and think about what would happen when it was their turn. Then he'd called Reeve, and she'd watched almost fascinated as the needle sank into her skin, a cold liquid traveled quickly up her veins, and then everything had gone dark.

Before she could open her eyes Reeve could smell something putrid filling the air, it was repugnant, she could feel her stomach lurching, her throat erupting with bile that she swallowed painfully. It was strange, because she couldn't remember how she had gotten there, that morning Four had taken them to a dark hallway to wait until their name was called. She'd left Tris and Will behind in the hall when their Divergent trainer had called her name from the door half shrouded in darkness.

"Samantha!" A voice suddenly shouted at her in the dark.

Immediately her eyes jumped open, all around her were huge walls standing at least ten feet into the air, well above her head they loomed over her. Someone screamed in the distance, and the sound bounced off the walls until finally it reached her, and sent shivers down her spine, it was Elaine's voice.

"Elaine?" She yelled, back into the darkness.

Pulling forward Reeve found that she couldn't move much more than a few feet in front of her, something cold, and metallic was biting into her wrist as she tried to get up. It was a handcuff of sorts, in the faint light she could see the shiny surface glint, and reflect the barest amounts of light back into the space around her. She didn't fail to notice the sharpness of a jagged edge tearing into her skin like a ravenous carnivore finally catching food in a barren forest. It was painful, Reeve grit her teeth against the urge to stop moving, and halt the ripping of her flesh, but another voice echoed in front of her.

"He's going to kill us," it whispered.

She didn't have time to wonder how Theo's small voice could have reached her form, he'd never been one to shout or even raise his voice when he was angry, even as a baby he had cried quietly. She yanked at her wrist harder, glancing back to see that her pale skin had been coated in crimson, and began to pool beneath her. The smell of her blood mixed with the rotting smell of the air made her gag all the more, the stink, clogged and glazed her throat in acid, as if she was breathing in poison.

She stalled suddenly; there was only one way for her to get out of this thing, as she prepared herself for what was to come next. Two more screams filled the air, and made the hairs on the back of her neck bristle. Firmly, she gripped her bloody hand with her other one, ignoring the slippery feeling of liquid, and began to slide her fingers. She wrenched her hand powerfully until a crack resonated around her; she couldn't help but gasp, and groan in pain as she pulled her broken hand from the cuffs. The sight of her mangled palm, and fingers only pushed Reeve farther into what she discovered was a maze. Her mind bristled at the thought of running, running around corners, and down passages until the screams stopped ringing, she would never find her siblings or even the way out.

"Collin please!" Elaine's pleading voice bounced off the walls. Reeve froze mid-step, and her eyes darkened considerably. If she had killed him when she'd had the chance, this wouldn't be happening. If Four hadn't stopped her she would have never had to have seen that bloody grin on his face; her brothers, and sisters wouldn't be screaming for him to stop, pleading with him, and hoping that she would find them.

The screaming got louder, and the more frantic and angry Reeve became. She couldn't find them, Elaine, or Theo; whatever her brother was doing to them she was letting it happen. It flooded into her mind like a tsunami, at first blocking out her thoughts as she ran fruitlessly through the maze, always coming up to a dead end or finding herself running in a circle.

"I can't find you," she screamed, into the darkness above her.

The dim lighting was messing with her head, sometimes it would seem to illuminate a certain passageway, or seem to lead her in the right direction as the screaming became louder, only to end abruptly or make her run into darkness, unable to see herself until she ran back out again. Dreary thoughts began to fill her head, as she imagined finding their bodies lifeless on the floor of the maze. Even if they did die, she would never be able to find them, slowly their corpses would turn into skeletons...she wouldn't even be able to bury them.

"I can't find you," she shouted, feeling her throat close in on itself at the awful stench that had been following her since the beginning.

"Samantha," Theo's voice whispered. The name made her falter in her racing pace, something in her mind clicked into place as she stared down what was probably another dead end. She was running to a family that didn't need her anymore, Collin couldn't hurt them, she was useless, and her going to find them wasn't working anyway. After what had just happened the day before, there was no way that what was happening right now was real. The screams that sounded so final, and terrified, were fake, and yet she was still afraid. In the end she suspected that Elaine had told the twins that she was Reeve now, she could see her sister's smile, knowing their older sister was gone for good.

If it was real, they would be calling her by the name she had chosen for herself. If there was anyone in the world that would respect her wishes it would be the one she had been protecting since the day Collin changed. Elaine had understood, the day before the choosing ceremony, Reeve couldn't stay, not when the only thing that would ever be waiting for her at home was a man who relished in watching her fall.

With her wrist still bleeding Reeve stood careful steps until her back was leaning against one of the walls of the maze, as if sensing her realization the screaming and pleading got louder, and more insistent. Reeve couldn't help the tears that began to flow like a river from her eyes, she'd often had dreams where she found her brothers, and sister hurt, injured, because she had not been able to protect them. Sometimes she would shock herself by waking up with sticky and salty cheeks after finding the body of Elaine within a dream. Cold and lifeless, Reeve still remembered all the haunting visions that had found her in her sleep, and plagued her mind. That was what this was, a dream that she had been through before, how had she gotten through it all those years ago?

After a while the screaming was beginning to take its toll on her, but all Reeve could do was pull her knees closer to her body and sit against the wall. Slowly she was bringing down her breathing, convincing herself that if anything in the world was fake, it was this, but if it was real. If somehow she had stumbled into the very realm of her own nightmares, she'd much rather die than listen to this.

"Samantha!" Theo voice screeched. "I thought you loved us," the sound made her heart jump into her throat before it thumped back into her chest. She'd never heard him scream before, it made her blood run cold, and her eyes set in a dark glare.

"That's not my name anymore Theo," she whispered, as if they could hear her. She closed her eyes tightly, as if the darkness could block out the voiced in her mind.

"Please, Sammy," it was Elaine this time.

She refused to open her eyes, blocking out everything, she didn't care anymore. She'd tried to find them; if this was real surely she would have gotten some clue to their whereabouts after running around for so long. In the end it boiled down to one thing, she'd already left them and her old name behind, if they wanted her help again, they'd have to acknowledge that she was a different person. No longer was she there to make sure that they were okay, she was Dauntless now, Reeve, the girl with one green eye and one grey eye. The very person that had beaten the odds of her short stature, and gone up against opponents much bigger than her, Samantha was already dead and gone.

"If this was real my name would be-," a feeling in her gut cut her speaking off.

Slowly she opened her eyes to see that she was back in the room with Four, he was looking at her with an almost understanding expression that made Reeve sick to her stomach. Did that mean that he had seen what happened to her?

"Reeve," he spoke softly.

Even with the realization that the world was fake, the relief of knowing that it now certainly was Reeve could still hear her siblings screaming for her help in her head. She could still smell the putrid stench of her own blood mixing in with the smell of a rotting corpse; perhaps it had been one of the twins that had long been dead.

As if in a trance Reeve moved as if she was in hardening cement, at an agonizingly sluggish pace, Four could only watch as she let new information sink into her brain. He didn't know what to say to her, thus far the people who woke up had been screaming or crying, shocked into silence, gasping for air, or clawing at their own skin frantically. Here was Reeve, quiet as the dead of night, with the most vacant expression he had ever seen on a person, looking at him, but not really seeing him in front of her.

"How long was that?" She finally asked him.

She was curious, sometimes at home when she was reading she'd doze off, and venture through shrouded forests if only to find herself alone in the end. Jerking herself awake the clock would show that she'd only been asleep for two or three minutes, and her own thoughts would petrify her. What if one time she went to sleep, and was trapped in a nightmare forever?

"Almost four minutes," he spoke, without hearing his own words.

"Do I just leave through the same door?" She questioned, looking away from him.

"Yeah," he said, moving out of the way as she stood to leave the room. "That's it for today," he faltered slightly with what to say. "You can relax."

She offered him a small nod of her head before pushing the door open, and walking silently down the hallway. The dim light reminded her of the maze, she could almost hear a scream ringing across the area, bouncing off the walls until it reached her sore and tired ears.

"Reeve?" She only faintly heard Will's voice as it followed her down the hallway. Even though it had been fake, even though it had all been a lie, and she had beaten it by simply giving up, she still couldn't block out the screams that begged for her to help.

"Molly," Four's voice was the last thing she heard.

Reeve made her way to their shared living quarters with a dull expression on her face. There was nothing anyone could say at the moment that she would be able to comprehend over the sound of voices in her head. She needed something repetitive that would block out the sounds of her siblings pleading with her for help, and so she went straight to the bathroom, ignoring Myra and Christina who were already back at their beds. Quickly she stripped off her clothing, not caring if there were any boys in the room as well. It didn't matter if they saw anything, and she didn't care.

As soon as the shower was on Reeve tried to focus on the steady thrum of water that hit the cement beneath her feet. She began to take in her surroundings slowly, the cold rock beneath her feet, the air that bit at her skin, and made goose bumps appear all over her pale flesh. She could her faint whispers of people behind her, it sounded like a couple of them were crying, perhaps shocked by what they had experienced.

The water began to steam and Reeve stepped under the rush of water, reveling in the sting of hot water against her skin for a second before relating the pain of it to when she had broken her hand in order to get out of the cuffs. The small pain faded, Reeve again tried to focus on the way droplets would roll over her lips, and the way it would collect in her arms as she cupped them against her body. Subconsciously her fingers found the marks on her neck, and Reeve got a flash of Eric in her mind. She pushed on the mark sternly to bring back the pain. Instead of seeing the maze in her mind Reeve saw Eric looking down at her for a few seconds before the pain faded. The way he had grinned so devilishly at her that morning, even his voice turned into mere whispers in wake of the screams.

She was so busy trying to forget about what she had seen and heard Reeve didn't notice Peter walking into the bathroom area, moving towards the showers as if to surprise her. Barely hearing him tsk she turned to look at the other transfer, his leering gaze shifted all over her body as she stood defiantly in front of him. If she moved to cover herself up it would be as if he had won in making her feel embarrassed, it was most likely what he was aiming for, to get her to blush. There was no room for that today, in light of what she had seen, and forced herself to do, Reeve was itching for something else to happen. There was no reason to wallow in her thoughts when a prime target was presenting himself to her.

"Nice tattoos," he whistled letting his eyes hover over her breasts. She offered him a cold gaze, and didn't fail to notice that everyone within the vicinity had gathered to watch the exchange. "How many do you have?" He questioned with a lustful grin on his face.

Perhaps he was trying to save face after trembling so much as he walked out of the mental training room, she'd grinned at him as he'd walked away. He was probably embarrassed to have been seen so out of sorts and frantic.

"You could always count them, and stop being such a lazy prick," she remarked, matching the tone of his sneering voice with that of Collin's, they sounded so similar.

Turning away from him as he stood with an irritated look on his face Reeve faltered at his next words.

"Can't you be a little nicer, Samantha?" He mocked watching her form still in front of him. He was still drinking in the sight of her naked skin in front of him and was unprepared for what happened next.

Twisting around on the wet cement Reeve knocked Peter into the wall behind him powerfully, her wet foot connected with his chest, leaving a wet footprint on his clothing. He started to gurgle out a startled retort before she was on him again, grabbing the front of his shirt before slamming him back into the wall as if he was a rag doll. He had been shocked to have a naked girl beating him up in the shower, and leave wet marks all over his form, to prove that he'd been somewhere he shouldn't have.

In retaliation, Peter lazily swung at her ribs, only to catch the soft skin of her breast as she did her best to dodge even with the slick ground beneath her feet. For a split second all Reeve could see beneath her was blood, the slippery feeling of the floor brought her back to how the maze floor had been slick with her own blood. The initiate in front of her took the chance to revel in the soft feeling of her warm skin that had brushed his knuckles; there was something about the dark purple marks on her neck that made him warmer. He wouldn't have seen it from afar, but it looked like teeth indentations on her shoulder.

He hadn't been expecting the sudden want that rose in his throat at the sight of the measly red headed girl in front of him, the way her mismatched eyes bore heavily into him form. He was angry to have such a small person pushing him around, and slamming him painfully into the wall. At the same time he didn't mind it so much.

"Looks like I found a weak spot," he grinned in front of her. To which Reeve responded within moments by jamming her knee into his ribs, and tossing him on the floor, his cheek connecting with the wet floor was a wakeup call.

"How would you like to suffocate in your sleep?" Her voice was bland, and icy as she spoke. "Call me that again, I'll make it happen," she glared at him darkly.

Reeve was serious, that name, it didn't belong to her anymore, she'd left it behind to rot on her parents lips whenever they wondered what could have gone so wrong for her to leave them. Peter wasn't someone to be feared, even as he was eyeing her up and down Reeve was comparing their encounter to her mental training. Facing him was nothing next to that, so she would have nothing of it, and threaten him just as she would threaten anyone else. Even if he had been the one to do away with Edward it meant nothing to her, not when she was still so angry, and empty from her first day of mental training. There was no room in her mind for him, not his snide remarks, or him whispering of her real name. She's hoped that Peter would be thinking about trying to breathe one night only to get a lungful of pillow.

Instead, he was thinking about sliding his hands down her wet sides. He wanted to feel her skin beneath his fingertips, and make some marks of her own. It had made him curious, to see such taints on her pale skin, because who would ever want to sink their teeth into the transfer anyway? She was boring, and didn't react to much of anything they threw her way. Maybe the only interesting thing about her was her eyes. Even then, it certainly wasn't enough to spur that type of emotion, but he'd been wrong.

Growling at him Reeve turned off the shower, grabbed her towel, and walked away from him angrily. She merely wanted to forget the screaming in her head by focusing on something rhythmic. Though the other initiates made it impossible to even do that, if only they had their own area to shower in she wouldn't have to deal with hormonal teenagers. She'd have to find somewhere else to go when she needed to be alone with her thoughts.

For now she'd have to settle for the continuous rush that the Chasm offered to her. At least if she was near it, the sound of the screams would eventually drown and sink away. That was where she spent the rest of the day, sitting next to the drop off, letting her feet sway in the emptiness below her, listening to the rush of water far down below. Perhaps all she had accomplished was forever hearing the rush of water in her head whenever something hinted at a scream.

=0=0=

There were two people in front of her in the distance, sitting static in chairs, only when Reeve stepped into the light did she see who it was. Elaine and Mal, strapped into their own separate chairs on either side of the room, it felt like she had been walking towards the light that enveloped them for hours, but she was sure it had only been a few minutes.

"You have to choose," a disgustingly familiar voice ran out into the darkness. It made Reeve want to snarl, anywhere, anytime, for the rest of her life she would always recognize the voice that was her brother. How many times had he shouted at her to promise that she would choose Erudite when the time came to slice her palm? How many times had he screamed in frustration when she refused to answer his more than frantic yelling at her to answer him unless she wanted a bruise on her arm?

She would never forget what his voice sounded like.

"Why is it always you?" She questioned the emptiness around them. "I thought I'd escaped your wretched voice," she seethed softly.

In front of her Mal tried to speak around the cloth that had been tied around his mouth. Elaine was silent as she stared at her older sister, her eyes red from crying. She moved forward to help them when something beeped in front of her, and next to their chairs.

"If you cross the line they both die," his voice spoke again from far away.

Beneath the toe of her shoe was a thin red line that separated her from them, whatever the beeping was it would trigger something that would most likely kill them if she tried something.

"You have to choose," he said again. A light suddenly shone brightly a few feet away from her, illuminating a table with a single gun that made her breath catch in her throat painfully. "One must die for the others to live," his voice was cold, and made her shiver. "If you don't pick, I'll kill them both."

Reeve's hands found the gun slowly, though she had handled the larger guns during practice the small handgun in her fingers seemed to weigh heavily on her form. Dragging her body she struggled to stand with it in her grasp, and moved slowly back over to the red line to look at the people most precious to her.

Elaine was her sister, the one she had been protecting for a long time, someone she would die for, but then there was Mal. The one person who accepted her for exactly who she was, and seemed angry when something happened to her, he was the only person who ever made her feel like she was safe when he was near. Sinking to her knees Reeve whimpered softly in front of them, holding the gun firmly in her hands, the words resonated in her head like the screams had the day before.

"What is it they say?" Collin mused from far off. "Faction before blood."

Reeve stopped short, pulling herself to her feet, and lifting the gun. For some reason it now felt light as air, she was afraid to choose between them, how could she? If anything it made her decision a lot easier now that she knew that there was no way this could be real.

If this was real Collin would not be there, nor would Mal since they were of two completely different Factions. Even if it would someday happen in the future, she would still make the same choice.

The gun felt cold against her head as she pointed it at the spot just above her ear, of course, why hadn't she thought of it sooner.

"What are you doing?" His voice asked, seeing what she had picked as her option.

"One of us must die for the others to live," she smiled, before pulling the trigger.

With a jerk she opened her eyes, and sat up quickly in front of Four. Her breathing was shallow as she stared off into the distance just as she had done the day before. Though Four had been expecting much of the same it was still a little shocking to see her walk out of the room so calmly, when others had been screaming for help.

"Four minutes," he sighed, watching her disappear around a corner. He needed to speak with her later, if she let him anyway.

It was chance that led Eric to Reeve, he'd been giving orders to a nurse in the medical bay when Mal walked in, and mentioned something about their favorite red head sitting next to the Chasm again. The leader was anxious after not seeing the girl for more than a day, especially now that he knew what he wanted from the transfer. Faintly the past few days he'd been wondering how mental training was going for her. Had she cried and screamed after the first test? Did that mean Four had been the first one to hear the sound out of her mouth? It made him angry to imagine the two of them together in that room.

Somehow, he'd been expecting something different than what he was seeing. He'd been expecting to see the girl crying, or shivering after what he guessed was a train wreck in the mental testing room. Instead, she was sitting down in front of the railing, letting her legs hang off the side of the bridge while she stared off into the distance, silent, and unmoving even after his arrival.

She didn't react to him standing behind her, or even when his fingers trailed lightly over the marks on her neck. He'd even pushed the fabric of her jacket out of the way to see the one on her shoulder, and she'd made no move to get away from him or even to react to what he was doing, which was curious. Where was the old Reeve that he'd grown to yearn for?

What expression was she making right now? The question drove him to sit down next to her in front of the railing, and look at her face for a good few minutes as he tried to figure out what the look meant in terms of emotions.

"What do you want Eric?" She questioned, without turning her head in his direction. He didn't like that she was ignoring him so blatantly; this was not the girl that stared at him after jumping off the roof that first day. Though he often said that initiation was supposed to wear them down into who they really were, he'd been thinking that Reeve was too good for that, somehow he'd been hoping that she would be stronger.

At the same time he was relishing in the sound of his name coming from her lips, and decided that as long as she was next to him there was nothing he couldn't do to bring the old defiant Reeve out of her indifferent shell. Somehow, he knew this was going to happen to her, although he'd thought there would be more tears he should have known better, Reeve crying? He almost couldn't imagine it.

"I didn't peg you as one of the weak ones who let their fears get the better of them," he muttered, staring off into the distance just as she was. He was trying to rile her up, to rub the fact that she was weak into her face, and shove more salt into her wounds, but she was having none of it.

"You must have been the type of initiate who stabbed people with knives when they were ranked higher than you, the same person that tries to fight someone while they're taking a shower." Her voice was cold as she spoke to him. At first her words made him bitter as she assumed to know what type of person he was until he let the other comment she made sink in further. Did that mean that someone had walked in on her in the shower? It would be the only reason she would even say it right?

"Actually I came in second," he growled, remembering his anger at seeing Four ranked higher than him.

"So quick to admit it," she glanced at him with a bit of a grin on her face.

It faded quickly back to the one of indifference that he was so used to seeing on her face that had Eric blinked he would have missed it. Her remark made him growl bitterly, and smirk as he realized the old Reeve could be ushered out by way of conversation; he'd never really taken the time to talk to her. Obviously, something that had happened during her test was bothering her, and dare say it; Eric was curious what she had to say about it.

"I bet it was Four who beat you," she said, with an air of mischief in her voice.

Eric turned to glare at her bitterly to see that she was smirking at him devilishly, a sight that made him chuckle darkly as he eyes the way her lips curved so elegantly upwards.

"Watch yourself," he threatened. He watched as her playful expression began to fade, and wondered how he could elicit such a look out of her again, because he wanted to watch as her lips moved. "His fears were nothing compared to mine," he muttered, trying to sound resolute.

"How do you know?" she turned on him then. Her eyes were cold as they looked at him, almost looking through him as if he wasn't even there at all. "Did you ask him what they were?" She liked the way Eric wasn't trying to bite her neck, or throw her into the hallway and pin her there, but she didn't care for the way he was rising himself up on a pedestal. How did he know what other people were going through when his mentality was to act first and ask questions later?

"He's afraid of heights," Eric offered, watching her angry frown falter and fade.

"Okay, that's a little lame," she murmured, turning away from him to look at the rushing water below. "I think it'd be nice to die from falling," she spoke blandly.

"Why do you say that?" He spoke without thinking.

"It'd feel like flying," she said blandly. It was strange for both of them, to be having such a normal conversation, one that didn't involve fighting or pinning the other person down to the ground. Yet in the midst of their somewhat mundane conversation, Eric hadn't failed to look at the way she licked her lips when they started to get chapped. He even noticed the way her tongue had lingered on her still healing split lip.

He scoffed at her answer, which made the girl turn to stare at him as if he'd just insulted her, she didn't like it when people laughed at her after they had asked a question. If he wasn't expecting her to answer in such a way he shouldn't have questioned her in the first place.

"I like you better when we don't talk," she muttered moving to get up.

Reeve hadn't wanted to see Eric today, or anytime soon for that matter. She'd wanted to sit on the edge of the bridge by herself, and ignore everyone around her. She hadn't even gone to see Mal since the first day of training, he'd probably be wondering where she was by now, perhaps she'd go there next. Although she had to admit that it was strange to be having such a normal conversation with Eric, almost as if they were friends, but now she tired of the demeaning presence that was Eric and thought it best to leave. If she stayed around to hear him laugh at her comments any longer she wouldn't be able to control the urge to punch him in the face. If in the future he wondered why she never spoke to him this would be the prime example.

He grabbed her wrist before she could get to her feet, and pulled her back down to sit next to him. Then there was a large hand that tangled in her hair, and brought her face closer to his, she could feel his breath on her lips as he spoke to her.

"So you like me then," his face should have broken from how big his smirk was.

"Only when you're nowhere near me," she sneered, trying to wretch her arm from his grasp.

"That blush on your cheeks says differently," he whispered, letting the hand on the back of her head move to slowly trace the marks on her neck. She hadn't even realized that she was blushing until he pointed it out, and that just made her even angrier, he thought he was such hot stuff. He was surprised to see her smirk in front of him, the blush that still barely dusted her cheeks made him anxious to close the distance between them.

"I'm just so embarrassed by how badly your breath smells," she added, with an air of disgust despite her small smile.

"I'm feeling compassionate this time around, obviously the mental training is taking its toll on you," he muttered, making her growl in front of him. To assume that she was so weak that he needed to let her leave without putting up a fight.

"How kind of you," she stated icily. He let her get up, and even move away from him before she decided that it was her turn to rile him up, if only to get back at him for calling her weak. "It's nice to see that Mr. Second place has a heart," she chuckled before turning to leave.

She was on guard for him to hit her, or throw her into the ground again like he had done so many previous nights, to press his form against her own, and squash the air out of her lungs. What she hadn't been expecting was a firm hand on the back of her neck, and a quick twist of her head. The feeling of lips on her own made Reeve widen her eyes at the man in front of her; he'd tilted her head upwards so he could easily capture her lips.

It was a strange feeling for Reeve, something she had never done before. With the rough way in which the man was pressing his lips against hers, she wasn't sure it was something she wanted to do again. For a mere few seconds, she was almost too shocked to move, and then before she could even begin to pull away from him Eric took a step backwards and licked his lips. It made her shudder in front of him, and wipe the sleeve of her shirt against her mouth, as if she could rid herself of what just happened.

"Now you can leave," he said breathlessly.

She spit on the ground in front of him bitterly, angry with herself to have let him do that to her without even putting up a fight. It had been too shocking, that the Dauntless leader would ever want to steal her lips, she'd never even considered something like that could happen to her. A growl was all that escaped her mouth as she bared her teeth at him like a wild dog, what a bastard.

Her lips were still tingling when she walked into the shared living quarters where Christina, Will, and Tris were talking about their mental tests that day.

"Where have you been?" They questioned, before seeing her enraged eyes.

"Nowhere important," she seethed, sinking down into her cot. She hated that so far whenever she encountered Eric he was ready for what was happening and she was not. Again he had surprised her, and again she wanted nothing to do with him. Though she couldn't deny that it had almost been exciting to sit next to him without knowing what was coming next.

"How was your test today?" Will questioned, seeing that his friend was obviously shaken about something.

"I got to shoot someone in the head."

"Someone you knew?" Christina asked, seeing her expression change slightly.

"Yup."

.

AN: No word of the chapter this time... I was writing this when I was really tired, so I wasn't even sure if half of it made sense. After re-reading it, I was more than happy that it did.

I'm excited to write the next chapter, also, what did you think of their first kiss? They even had a halfway decent conversation, something uncommon between Eric and Reeve. Just wait till you see what happens next. Anyone have any guesses?

Tell me what you think?

Thanks for reading!