Chapter 19 (Tobias' POV)
I had put up a sign telling the initiates to take today morning off as well, and that they were welcome to go in and train themselves if they would like to. But I told them to be back after lunch for the matches. I took this morning off because I decided last night that I would apologize to Tris today with something, and... I'll see how it goes from there.
I walk to the Pit and look around, trying to figure out which shop would have what I wanted, since the Dauntless don't normally want to buy this kind of thing. But I read somewhere, sometime ago, that people used to do this, so... I hope it works.
I finally find a store that sells what I am looking for, and taking a deep breath, I walk in, hoping that what I need will be in there.
Approximately twenty minutes later, I am outside Christina's door. I glance at my watch- it was still early, only 10:40 AM, but I am sure that Tris is awake. I breathe in, and release the breath, hoping with all my heart that this works. The past few days have been agony, especially seeing her all beat up and bruised... I couldn't sleep, and when I did, I always dreamt of her. I need her back. I knock on the door, the sound crisp and sharp in the quiet of the empty hallway.
I stand there for a moment, not breathing. But after a while, there is still no response, or any shout of "I'm coming, hold on!" I am about to turn around and walk back to the apartment that I once shared with Tris, but a small, feeble voice suddenly says, from the end of the hallway, "What are you doing here?"
Tris.
I exhale in relief.
"Well?" she asks again, walking closer, only a few feet away from me now. Oh right.
"I told the initiates to take the morning off. The fights can wait until the afternoon. Did Marlene release you from the infirmary?" I say really quickly, hiding what I am holding behind my back.
She seems to notice that I am hiding something, and before I can stop myself, I bring out the flowers, and hope that they smell okay.
"I got these roses for you. I feel really bad about what happened that day with Hestia. Even though I didn't kiss her first or anything, I should have noticed her coming near me and shoved her off before she did anything and I'm really sorry and I haven't been able to sleep the whole time and I really hope that you can forgive me Tris, please. I can't sleep without you next to me... It's so suffocating, this guilt. Forgive me, Tris..." I say, my voice trailing off at the end.
She stands there with an unreadable expression on her face. But suddenly, she begins to tear up, and I feel even more guilty for making her cry. Before I can apologize, she throws her small arms around me, and hugs me. I wrap her in my embrace, missing the sweet smell of her next to me...
"It's... all... m-my fault... Tobias... I-I'm so... sorry..." she says, between sobs.
It's breaks my heart, seeing her crying like this, and I feel even worse knowing that if I had somehow prevented Hestia from doing what she did, Tris wouldn't be like this, and we'd still be together.
"It's not your fault, I should have prevented her from doing something like that in the first place," I say, but she just sobs harder. The shoulder of my shirt is now soaked, but I don't care, I don't care, because Tris is back in my arms, and we're together again.
"Follow me!" I say, suddenly remembering the other part of my forgiveness gift. Before she can walk though, on impulse, I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder, running to my- no, our-apartment.
A few minutes later, I am sitting on the bed with Tris tentatively walking in, her shoes off.
"Ta-da!" I say, with a smile on my face. "Dauntless don't usually do this, but I know how much you love chocolate, so… here you go."
I hand her the box of chocolates, nicely wrapped with a fancy bow on top and everything. "Open it!"
She does so, and immediately stuffs one in her mouth, causing me to laugh. She glances at me and smiles, "Here." She hands me one, and I take it, stuffing it in my mouth. I probably look ridiculous, but Tris looks like a child caught stealing cookies, with her stuffing her mouth with chocolate and all.
Before I can stop myself, I take out a box, and hesitantly hold it out. It takes Tris a moment to notice, but when she does, her mouth shapes a perfect 'o'.
"Together…Again?" I ask, and she smiles, which I take as a good sign. Sliding the small ring onto her slim finger, I lace my fingers in hers, and smile, finally content for the first time in what feels like forever.
"So which one will it be?" Tori asks Tris and me.
It's around 11 o clock, and Tris and I decided that we should get a new tattoo, and we've just decided what we want. We wanted a "Forever" tattooed onto both of our wrists to remind us that no matter what, we'll be together... Forever. Nothing will stop us-whether it is something big, or something little like a petty initiate.
"We'll have a 'Forever' tattooed in this font"- I point at it, the book resting in my lap-"on the inside of my left wrist and on Tris' right wrist."
"Mkay," Tori replies and settles down, preparing for Tris' tattoo while Bud works on mine.
By the time it's done, it's almost 1 so Tris and I hurry to the training room after paying Tori and Bud in points from our card.
When the initiates have all arrived (except for Justin, who's still in the infirmary, seeing as I gave him worse injuries than I did for Jose and Hestia), Tris has compiled a list of the matches. It is as follows:
Alyssa VS Snow
Tesa VS Jose
Michael VS Clement
Hestia
"Who's my partner?" Hestia asks and I glare at her.
"Me," Tris answers.
"But that's not fair! You're an instructor! How is this fair? It shouldn't be allowed!" she whines in that annoying voice of hers.
Before I can stop myself, I say in a low voice, "Was it fair when you, Jose, and Justin attacked Tris? It was 3 against 1, and that one person didn't even know she was being attacked. And one of you had a knife, whereas Tris had nothing. Three people with a weapon versus one unsuspecting person is fair? I don't think so. So suck it up, because you will do as Instructor Six says, and you have no choice about it, lest you be automatically kicked out."
"Humph." She turns around, crossing her arms as Tris looks at me and smiles before running into the ring.
"What are you waiting for, initiate? Get in the ring already!" Tris taunts.
"What? I thought I was last!"
"Did I ever number the matches? I never said that it was in order. Besides, I need to show my students how a fair match should go, isn't that right, Four?"
"Of course," I reply, eager for the part where Tris beats up that foul being. Hestia doesn't deserve to be called a person. "Begin."
Tris gets into a flawless stance, back leg bent just enough to have a spring when she attacks; Hestia's stance... not so much.
They start circling each other, before Tris lunges out and punches, scraping Hestia's face with her knuckles. Without pausing, she punches again, aiming straight and true, hitting Hestia's nose.Ha. Tris pulls back and momentarily glances at me, smiling, before drawing her attention back to Hestia.
"C'mon, initiate. You're not even trying!" she taunts, as she begins circling Hestia again. Hestia doesn't do anything, except glare at Tris, and a few seconds later, Tris deliberately turns around and says to the other initiates, "This is the part when I tell you that in your match, don't be Hestia. You want to attack the opponent, not stand there glaring at him or her like an idiot." Suddenly, Hestia lunges to punch Tris with her back turned, but Tris spins around and dodges it.
"You seriously thought I was going to let my guard down?" Tris asks, amused. She lunges again, punching Hestia in the nose, only this time, a crack is heard.
"Ow..." Hestia groans before holding her hands back up.
Tris kicks her in the stomach before saying, "Are you planning on attacking me,anytime soon?" Tris usually doesn't talk when she's fighting, since it breaks her concentration, but I can tell that she doesn't care now, because with or without concentration she'll still beat Hestia.
Tris kicks Hestia in the gut and says, "C'mon!" before punching her in the stomach, effectively knocking all the air out of her lungs. I suddenly realize that the reason Tris is allowing this fight to go on so long is because she wants Hestia to experience some pain before showing mercy and knocking her out.
"This is getting boring," Jose complains, and Tris responds by kicking Hestia in the face with a round-house kick, leaving her on the floor gasping for breath. She kicks her again in the ribs, and a faint crack is again heard.
"You have two options: surrender, or fight until you're dead or unconscious," Tris states with a poker face.
"Surrender..." Hestia gasps out, and Tris leaves the ring, walking toward me, while calling out, "Michael and Clement, take her to the infirmary. Aly, Snow, you're up."
It lasted over 10 minutes, since the right was pretty even, but it was obvious that Alyssa would win. She was both fast and somewhat strong, whereas Snow only had agility on her side. And it seemed like Alyssa learned some techniques that Tris and I didn't teach her, meaning that she's been training with a Dauntless-born initiate, another Dauntless-born member, or Uriah actually taught them well that day.
Speaking of Uriah, he suddenly burst into the room and yelled out, "Four, Tris, come to my place tonight at around 9, dress casual, see you!" before running back out, letting the door slam.
After all the matches, the results were shown on the board:
Alyssa VS Snow
Tesa VS Jose
Michael VS Clement
Hestia VS Tris
"Okay, we'll call it a day. I expect you all back here in the Training Room ready for another round of matches tomorrow morning at 6. Be late and you're automatically disqualified," I said before walking out with Tris right next to me.
"Is it another one of Uriah's parties?" Tris asks as we leave the Training Room, slightly exasperated.
I think for a few seconds before replying, "Probably not, since he only invited you and me, so it'll probably just be his close friends. And you can't call a gathering of less than 20 people a party, so yea."
She nods in understanding and we walk down the dimly lit hallway. "But we still have a couple of hours until dinner and I'd like to visit my Fear Landscape again so..." I drift off, waiting for Tris' reaction.
"Yea, let's go to your's, and then we'll go through mine. See if anything's changed..." she sounds unsure, and I hug her right there in the middle of the hallway, breathing in the scent of Tris, myTris...
"I love you, you know that?" I say suddenly. I can't help it, I haven't said it to her in a while...
"I know... And I love you to. You're mine," she says before pecking my cheek. "Forever," she adds, holding her wrist and smiling.
I lace my fingers with hers as we walk toward the Fear Landscape Room. I wonder if I'll still be Four...
A/N: I know I said that Uriah's engagement will be this chapter, but I decided that it won't fit, so I'm putting it in the next chapter. Hope that no one's too upset (grins bashfully).
Guest 1: Who says I wasn't continuing? Why would I stop? I'm glad you like it though!
Guest 2: Haha so much enthusiasm! Tris is just having a misunderstanding that's all. No one can separate them for real, we all know that.
claudia: Thanks! I'm glad that you're enjoying this FanFic, really!
Hooda: Did I add fluff? I dunno how. :/ But I hope that's it was enough :P :) How was this chapter? Good, bad, so-so?
NotJustAShadow: Ikr, I can't believe I did that. I feel evil XD But hey, I got them back together so... Haha, you liked the part where Tobias beat up Hestia, Jose, and Justin so badly that Justin couldn't even go to Training today? XD Was the tattoo idea good? It was your idea, after all... I hope you're pleased with it? :P
IamDivergentDauntless14: Puppy dog eyes? Aww well who can resist that! Well, I added this chapter so... :)
fanficforyou: Thank you! :D Yes, it was history repeating itself. First Peter, Drew, and Al, and now Hestia, Jose, and Justin. A girl can dream :P But a marriage so suddenly... Well, I have an idea for their marriage, which I will write at the end of initiation so... Hold your ideas- I'm not quite up to that scene yet XD Did this chapter fulfil your expectations? I hope it did :P
mahomie fresno: XD Lol it's fine and thanks!
partymouse: Tris was slowly forgiving him anyway, so the footage part wasn't required. But Tris should've believed him from the start. It was just her insecurities acting up :/
Fanfictionlover12k: Tris knew that Tobias wouldn't do that to her- deep, deep down she knew. That's why she started forgiving him even before he apologized. But on the surface she didn't know that- which is why she got upset. She let her insecurities take over- never good :/ But hey, she's a smart girl, and she'll learn from it, so it's alright XD :P
Booklover4610: Haha I'm so evil- I promised forgiveness last chapter but I didn't give it Muahahahahaha. But srsly, I hope that you like the part about the chocolate XD Especially since I'm eating a chocolate cookie now (::) (::) (::) IKR PJO (and HoO) IS THE BEST. I wish Rick told us about what happens after Caleo is reunited. Did 100 years pass? If not, how will Leo greet his friends? If yes... WHY?! So many questions that Rick never answered :'( Oh and yea- (SPOILER) DID GAEA SRSLY RISE BECAUSE OF PERCY'S NOSEBLEED? WTH?!
ladydragon21: I love TMI too! When someone says TMI, I don't think "Too much information", instead I think "The Mortal Instruments" XD I purchased a copy of City of Heavenly Fire months ago and finished it within 2 days XD It's that good. And yea, Jace (and Izzy, i luv her) woulda done awesome in Dauntless, and Clary would've probably been Divergent. But yea, I'm considering a cross-over of TMI and Divergent, after I finish my HP and PJO crossover and another story that I have in mind XD
luvdivergentforever: Thanks! Sorry I kept you hanging but ya know I hope this was worth it. It is the forgiveness chapter after all :P
divergentoverblood: A five layer Dauntless cake will probably be their wedding cake XD I can almost imagine Uriah eating half of it :P Good luck reading PJO- if you're not into it, fine but you're attempting to read it at least, so that's good. And since you like dystopian-world books, you've read THG, no? Did you watch Mockingjay? Speaking of THG, do you think that outside of the wall is Panem? Or maybe Panem dissolves into the five factions? Also, since you like dystopian future books, did you read the Selection? It's not all that dystopian, I guess, but it's in the future after the US is conquered by China and then they are freed and they create a new nation Illea, and everything. It's a good series, but it's really centered around dystopian society-it's more like people are blinded and think that this corrupt nation is actually a wonderful society. Like in the Giver.
Artofskating: I love your picture btw, and to answer your question about Tris forgiving Tobias, just read the above ^ :P Hestia, Jose, and Justin was beat up by Four, and Justin was beat up more than the others b/c he attempted to run XD So he couldn't attend the matches this time. But he'll be here the next day :P
Till next time
~myperfectionismyimperfection