Redux-Worth Fighting For

by Lunaschild2016

Committed to their city and faction, both were driven by their pasts and loyalties. Duty and orders were no longer enough and they both found more than they had hoped for. They found something worth fighting for. Eric/OC Divergent AU (Language, Romance, Sexual Content, Angst, Tragedy)

59. The Weak Do Not Inherit

Chapter 57 - The Weak Do Not Inherit

Eric

Being a leader in Dauntless is not what I once thought it would be. Not by a long shot.

I'm not even really sure anymore what the hell my sixteen-year-old self was thinking when I fantasized what it would be like, that's how far off the mark I ended up being. The one thing I do know for certain is that I could never have imagined that I would be more of a desk jockey than a badass that got to bark out orders to the legions under my command while I watched them do my bidding. I guess I had hoped, realistically, to be slightly closer to the badass and a hell of a lot less like the paper pusher I've become.

I spend a ridiculous amount of time filling out paperwork for all manner of things. Then there's the amount of time I have to spend going over other people's paperwork or reports. Sometimes I can go an entire week and never fucking step foot out of my office because we're so bogged down with all of it and it takes that long just to get sort of caught up. Even after that, there are times I end up taking it home with me.

Today was shaping up to be one of those days. Not that I hadn't expected, and dreaded, it as soon as I woke up. I knew that today I would have paperwork to catch up on, conference calls to sit through, and Erudite to deal with in order to get the systems as well as multiple other things set up for stage two and fear sims. The one thing that might have made the day of hell worth it was looking forward to getting to relax at the end of the day with Kat and my brothers.

I couldn't even count on that now.

I might have promised not to interfere with her plans to hang out with her sister and friends but it didn't mean it wasn't eating me up inside with frustration, irritation, and more than a tinge of jealousy. My normal response to those feelings would have been to make sure I got my way, however, I knew that would be a mistake. I didn't need the warning from either of my brothers this morning to know I needed to let Kat have her space and the time to spend with her sister and friends. I saw the need for it in her eyes as well as the determination that she wasn't going to let me pressure her into giving that up.

It didn't mean that I had to like it or accept the fact that I couldn't have at least one meal with her today. So, I went to work today like a man possessed, busting my ass just so I might be able to do lunch in the dining hall.

I knew dinner wasn't going to be feasible right from the start.

Erudite is scheduled to deliver all the serums we'll need for the fear sims along with the equipment upgrades. Because a leader is required to be present anytime Erudite needs to install equipment in Dauntless it usually falls to me since that's the faction I've been assigned to handle any contact needed. Despite the fact that I helped Jeanine with her plans in the past, I've never been okay with the amount I've had to deal with my old faction.

This time I don't mind so much.

When I take into consideration what's going on with Kat and there was no way I wasn't going to be there. I wouldn't feel at ease unless I was there to personally make sure they do what they need to do then get the hell out of here so there's no chance they could get near her. It made all of us twitchy having anyone from Erudite even in the same building with her. So I was glad when Max asked Zach, along with Zeke, to be the ones keeping an eye on the initiates while we're all tied up.

I take an opportunity during a short break in between conference calls to check my phone and the latest message Zach sent to me and Chase. I've tried to keep my messages to him asking for updates at a minimum and in return, he's done pretty good in sending me them as frequently as possible.

So far they've been hanging out at the Recreation Center that's been set up for the younger population. I'm thankful that there isn't much trouble she can really get into at that place even with the influence of Uri Pedrad. This latest update is actually a picture of Kat's group of friends at the end of their paintball game. Paintball is just one example of the many activities available there to keep them occupied.

Zach informs me they just finished up with a game of capture the flag, girls versus guys, with her team winning. In the picture she and her sister are front and center, both smiling with paint splattered all over their coveralls as well as some in their hair. Kat is holding her sister's hand up in the air that has a flag gripped in it. She's looking at Tris with pride and wearing the biggest shit-eating grin I've ever seen on her before. Their team is surrounding them and look to be in the middle of celebrations when Zach took the picture. Something stirs inside me seeing her looking at her sister like that and I can't help smiling a little as well when I see how fucking happy she is to be with her family right now.

"Well, it looks like the scheduled conference call won't be happening," Max grumbled as he walked back into the conference room holding his phone in front of him and scowling at whatever he's seeing on the screen. "They want to push it back three hours, which means a later night for all of us so we can move things around to accommodate them. Regardless of the change, we will still be working through lunch."

There are a lot of disgruntled mumblings and tired sighs from everyone in the room. Most of the grumblings are from the usual suspects, namely Lauren and James. I admit I'm cursing mentally as the small spark of hope I felt that I might get to at least get out of here for lunch rapidly dims. The tentative initial plan had been to make it a working lunch by having some of the staff bring food here from the kitchens, and it looks like that's what will be happening.

"Enough!" Max barks out while standing in front of his spot at the table still looking at his phone until he slides it into an inside pocket of his jacket then looks around the table and gets our attention. "I don't want to hear anyone bitching and moaning about the extra time you have to put in today when we have kid's lives in our hands with the decisions we are making here. You might not have any issues with what we've been forced to do…" He trails off and locks eyes with the only ones that haven't voiced any concern at all. People like James who don't understand why we are taking our time making these choices, he then moves on to look at Lauren who's only really complained about spending so much extra time when she could be doing something else. "But I for one am not taking this lightly."

Chase and I exchange quick looks and I know he's just as surprised by Max's sudden voicing of any kind of negative feelings about the cuts when he's kept stoically silent about any of his personal feelings before now.

He slides his seat back and then sits down and steeples his hands as he looks down the table at all of us. "I think it's time for me to lay out some hard facts of life for our faction. The primary one being that Dauntless is in serious trouble. I'm not one to publicly complain about the sorry state of our faction's finances or the restrictions put on us...simply because that isn't my style and it won't get us anywhere either. I do what I need to do for Dauntless, make the choices that need to be made, and carry on." The mood around the table instantly sobers and those that are not leaders, so aren't privy to some of these facts, look at him with wide concerned eyes. "It isn't just money, or lack of the basic things we need to keep this compound functioning, that is putting our faction in danger. It's a severe drop in our population. It doesn't take being a leader to look around and realize that as a faction we have much less of a population than the others. There have been fewer births over the last fifteen years, fewer transfers come to us during initiation, while at the same time way too many of our own transfers out. Not to mention that we're not equipped to handle our own elderly or disabled so they are forced to either go factionless or jump into the chasm despite the fact that they're still of value to this faction. While this should be a good thing because fewer people would normally mean less taxing of resources, the truth is we have to exhaust more just to keep up with all of our duties and even that we don't have near enough people to handle them."

He picks up a paper, the one with the list of names of those in the bottom ranks, and tosses it down in front of him again. "The people on this list might not have ever made spectacular soldiers but they could have still been Dauntless enough to do the jobs that keep this faction going."

"Even if they are pathetic and weak?" James voices what I know a majority of the others are thinking. I admit, I even had that same thought flash through my mind but I can tell what has Max standing up and bearing down on him is the snide tone she said it in.

"Do you really want to accuse anyone of being pathetic or weak to me when you barely scraped through initiation? Need I mention the only reason I even granted you the legacy position for a leader was because of the long history of your family and the respect I had for your father. Who, I am sorry to say, only stepped down when he did because he wanted to be with your dying mother. If he hadn't done that and I hadn't needed someone in that spot I would have kept you a junior officer and made you earn your spot the same every other person has."

James flushed red, and I could tell he was both embarrassed and angry at being called out like that but he wisely kept his mouth shut this time. Max paced down the table, hands behind his back as he kept his eyes on us and continued on.

"We've never believed in taking it easy on our initiaties regardless of being a transfer or born here in Dauntless, but it has also always been understood that making a good soldier takes more than just a handful of weeks to do it in. The core goal of initiation is to break them down from all the bad habits and behaviors they might have started with and build them back up into the image of a true Dauntless. I'll admit that a few of the ones in the bottom for this cycle, at least from the reports I've had, would likely not have stuck around even if we didn't have cuts. They could have decided, as some people have in the past, to wash out on their own. They could have been among the ones that get hurt enough that they are then required to leave like all the old or infirm are. The harsh reality is that we are rapidly losing the manpower that we desperately need. The ones that stayed at the bottom would have been put into the jobs our faction handles in the factories or here in the running of Dauntless. These kids you are so eager to send to the factionless are the ones that could have made sure to keep us fed, our clothes washed, or even cleaned up the mess after your night of partying in the Pit you are so eager to get to. These people might be beneath your notice but they are deserving of your respect for doing the jobs you think you are too good for. I have half a mind to start busting down ranks and assigning out these very jobs if I don't start seeing some major attitude adjustments."

He harshly barks the last words and in the silence after I can hear the shifting of a few people who have been known to make derisive comments about anyone that isn't an officer and considered just a member.

"We will be making this a working lunch and we will be doing so by joining the initiates in the dining hall. I expect all of you to have the decency to acknowledge the sacrifices they are making and the weight of their fates that are in our hands by looking them in the eye and memorizing their faces. Remember it could have...and still might be...one of you that finds yourself in their positions."

It takes a few seconds for everyone to catch on that he's effectively dismissed us but I'm already up and moving. I'm not exactly sure what prompted this change in Max but I'm not going to complain about it either. Not only does it give me more insight into what drives Max to have made some of the choices he's made but he's also given me exactly what I wanted.

Chase is right beside me and I don't miss the knowing smirk he has when he catches my eye and shakes his head with his grin growing.

****WorthFightingFor****

It's finally the end of a day that has seemed endless to me. There hasn't been one second that didn't involve work of some kind. Even the work lunch I knew we were in for turned out to be much more involved than I originally thought it was going to be. I thought, at most, there was going to be some talk between all of us involved with training while we waited for the initiates to be corralled over to the table by the trainers. I knew there was going to be too much tension once they got there though to have the conversations continue. The weight of Max's words was hanging over all of us, even the ones that don't really give much of a shit. James looked uneasy the majority of the time and both he and Lauren remained silent. Even when lunch took a very unexpected, and interesting, turn.

I still don't know fully what I think about the game Kat and Lynn brought up and that everyone else latched onto. On one hand, it's interesting and has the potential to cover a few areas that are very lacking in training. The biggest one is the teamwork aspect of the game. Those two girls were really fucking smart to include opportunities for a team win aspect as well as the individual win. Nothing could motivate a Dauntless more than that.

It was decided that we would continue the conversation regarding the viability of the game in the privacy of the conference room. One of the major problems I had with it is the potential for it to be turned into a complete shit show and that had me being cautiously optimistic during the discussion.

In the end, we had to cut the debate short and it was decided that Chase and Four would tackle most of the details for the types of challenges while I would handle the kinds of payment the initiates could put up for their bids as well as the method of determining the team's scores or consequences for not completing challenges.

After that, we went right back into other work. The priority was finalizing the cuts being made so we could send in an official report and count to the Council as well as Abnegation so it could be recorded for their census. This was especially important to their faction because they maintained the record for the factionless numbers.

Technically any transfer isn't considered part of their chosen faction until the conclusion of initiation when the final paperwork is approved and signed off on by the new faction, old faction, and the council. Then the paperwork has to be filed in each of those locations by the faction the initiate has officially joined. Until that time they are still considered dependents, but they are also in this weird sort of limbo status which basically amounts to them being the equivalent of someone that is orphaned and under the care of the government. The theory is that this helps to enforce the faction before blood mentality but honestly, it's just a pain in the ass in my opinion because all that does is create more paperwork.

Paperwork that I usually get stuck with. Just like I do every time there is an issue with a transfer, like being injured, we have to document and report it. The amount of injuries obtained during initiation ensures that every single initiate ends up with thick files filled with each and every single bump and bruise, or at least the ones reported, usually after they've visited the clinic.

The clinic is another that requires a bottomless pit amount of paperwork and reports for every supply used or assistance requested. And of course, because that is all done through Erudite, guess who gets the pleasure of dealing with that shit?

To say my patience has been stretched thin by the time Chase and I are finally wrapping up our night is an understatement. All I want to do is finish up this final inventory of the serums Erudite delivered for the fear sims, get it stored, and then hope to unwind with a beer in the Pit before I call it a night and force myself to go back to my apartment.

Alone.

"I would say that I'm proud of you for not interrupting Kat's night with her friends but you didn't have a choice since we've been dealing with either meetings or Erudite all day," Chase looks over at me with a knowing smirk as we walk into the secure storeroom to store the last few boxes.

"Despite what you and Zach think I'm not completely clueless when it comes to this relationship shit. I know I can't keep her from spending time with other people or wanting to do her own thing from time to time." I reply, shaking my head and putting my box on its shelf.

"Yeah, but how crazy is it driving you right now?" He asks while laughing, already aware of what my answer will before I actually admit it.

"Fucking insane," I mutter and sigh then turn to face him. "It's fucking insane how much it's killing me. It's fucking ridiculous how hard I'm fighting myself not to find something that gives me an excuse for that, but I knew this morning what I was going to have to do. She mentioned the rift with her sister at breakfast and then again when she was getting ready to leave. I knew that if I tried to demand her to cancel or tried to hijack her plans that she wouldn't be happy with me." Chase nods then fall into step beside me as we walk out of the room so I can lock it up.

"Let's go find Zach and those beers he promised to have waiting for us," Chase says as he reaches out and claps a hand on my shoulder and I tiredly grunt my agreement.

****WorthFightingFor****

There aren't many initiates in the Pit when Chase and I finally get there, not even Kat and her group. I notice this right away because Zach is off by himself waiting in our usual spot and he would only be there if she wasn't around.

This isn't a big deal, really, since I knew her friends had plans to keep her occupied with discovering all the other things to do in Dauntless besides what they've done before now which has been mainly hanging out in the dining hall or the Pit. It is disappointing though because it means I don't even get the chance to see her at least, even if it is from across the room.

"Dammit," I mutter moodily and continue to mutter under my breath, berating myself for not being able to go a single night without needing to see Kat. Chase snorts in amusement, and when I shoot him a glare he shrugs and mumbles that it's normal to feel that way in the beginning.

Zach finally catches a glimpse of us and nods his head in greeting then points out the full pitcher of beer he got for us. "Connor had a new beer for us to try before he put it out for the masses."

"Oh yeah?" Chase is the first to reach for a glass and the pitcher. "What did he use this time?"

"Ginger," Zach informs us with a smile as he lifts his cup to his lips.

I chuckle and take my turn in pouring myself a glass. "He finally got around to making good on his promise to make a grown-up version of ginger ale?"

"Yeah," Zach nods then shrugs. "It's not bad at that either."

When I have my own glass I sniff it before taking my first tasting sip and nod in appreciation afterward. "That'll be a good selling one. He might even be able to get interested from other factions besides just Amity if he keeps this up."

My friends both agreed to my statement and we passed the next several minutes drinking a bit more while Zach mentioned a few other types of things Dauntless's resident brewmaster is concocting. Like a harvest brew of spiced apple cider that is inspired by his time at the fence in Amity.

"So how did the second half of the day go?" Chase asks after pouring us another round of drinks.

"It was pretty quiet compared to before lunch. They decided to watch a double feature at the theatre. Zeke kept an eye on them for that and I got a head start on getting the reports for Candor due to be sent in, then I met back up with them at dinner which was much quieter than lunch. The reality of cuts is weighing on all of them now, even the ones that have the idea they're at least safe."

"Speaking of cuts, shouldn't Four and Lauren have revealed the rankings by now?" I look at Chase and see him nodding in agreement and then following my gaze as I let it sweep over the Pit expectantly.

"They have. Four said Molly raised a stink about her ranking, of course, she compared herself to Tris and Kat but they weren't the only ones she complained about being higher than her. Sally broke down and Edward left the training room with Mayra right after they saw she was at the bottom. Other than that it went okay."

There are a few Dauntless-born that are visible, celebrating their rankings and escaping the ax. There are absolutely no transfers out here though. I hear Zach replying even as I'm searching and I can't help but wonder why there is no mention of Kat at all considering she ranked first. Not even her sister is mentioned and she ranked fifth!

I don't exactly expect Kat or her sister to be celebrating but I had hoped to see some kind reaction from her for getting the first rank at least.

"She's not here, Eric." Zach points out what I'm already seeing and I turn back to see him wearing a very concerned frown. "Kat disappeared just after dinner, along with Lynn and Peter. When I asked Zeke about it he told me she decided to call it an early night after a quick stop at the clinic."

"What?" I barked out along with Chase, but he included the question of why she went there in the first place.

"I went by to check in with Shauna and she said that Kat complained of pain and spasms." My friend replies softly and I can hear that he's trying to mask what he's feeling about this right now.

"Did she look like she was in pain or had she mentioned it all before then?" Chase asks and Zach shakes his head.

He does mention that she looked tired at dinner and maybe a little upset when someone tried to get a conversation started about the people possibly in the bottom ranks for both classes...but I barely hear it. My mind is already racing as I try to come up with a way to get at Kat and find out what the hell she's thinking for keeping that shit from me.

It was already going to be hard for me to go back to my apartment to sleep alone, but now that I know she's in pain...there's no way I can just leave her there in the dorm.

"Don't even think about it, Eric." Zach's warning breaks my train of thought and calls me out on my scheming ways to get her back to my apartment, causing me to glare at him. "You've already pushed things too far these last couple of days."

"Zach, you know how she is about that kind of medication. How bad was she that she not only took it but actually went and got it herself? We have to practically trick her into anything that comes close to that kind of shit."

"I know. I also know she most likely didn't tell Shauna how bad it really was. I plan on talking to her about it come the morning, but for tonight there's not a damn thing we can do about it."

It's quiet for a few seconds, a heavy silence that demonstrates just how upset all of us are about this new development when neither Zach or Chase try to deflect my mood.

"That's not entirely true." Chase seethes out finally before he jerks his head and I follow the motion to see where he's indicating.

"Fights," I confirm once I realize what he's suggesting, and that is the fact that we can at least do something about how we are all feeling right now.

I drain my cup while standing up with the other two on my heels. The half-full pitcher of beer is forgotten, indicating the severity of our moods when not even Zach mentions it or makes a move to do his usual clean up of our area. Not surprisingly it's one of the rare occasions that even Zach decides to join in on the activity.

****WorthFightingFor****

Nothing had ever been more fitting for my current frame of mind than having to descend into the dark depths of Dauntless to be able to get to where the kinds of fights I needed are held. Because that's exactly where I had to let myself go. To my darker side. The one that, up until recently, was the only part of me that felt anything resembling happiness, the sick twisted kind of happiness I got when I was pummeling some poor slob until they didn't resemble anything human.

From what I know of the club's history, there hadn't been a name for the place when it was first set up because it wasn't even legal. Back then it wasn't much more than a roughed out cave where people got together to engage in the kinds of fights prohibited by the faction until it got shut down after several deaths. There were a few more times it popped up only to be shut down again, and after that leadership realized it was just going to keep happening unless there was some kind of regulation. So they sanctioned the fights and set some loose rules as well as put monitors in place. A bar set up followed that and soon after it officially became a club that was branded with the name Tartarus.

An Erudite kind of name if I ever heard one. It is a fitting name, though, since that was what the Ancient Greeks called the prison in the bowels of the earth for the Titans after being brought down by their children who then set themselves up as the next round of gods to rule.

The only real rules in the club are that there are no weapons other than the one your body becomes during the fight, and a strict no-kill policy. The rest aren't so much rules as they are judgments by the monitors if they feel it's gone too far. It's a far cry from the entertainment fights that are put together and displayed in the Pit. Those are considered safe enough for public viewing that even the wet behind the ears initiates can watch.

If any one of them saw this place, they would probably be running for the factionless.

For all that I loved the physical exertion, fights weren't the same for me as they had been in the past. I enjoyed the few I engaged into a certain extent. It helped me take the edge off my anger, helped me work through that at least, but it left me grasping at straws when trying to deal with the cluster fuck of other emotions I was left with when the anger wasn't so overpowering anymore.

Zach and Chase must have been feeling the same way I was because after a few of their own they met me over at the bar and we all decided we had enough for the night.

Now I'm standing in the bedroom closet after getting showered and dressed for bed, debating if I should attempt to sleep or take my friends up on their offer to call them up and hang out here. Before I can make a decision either way I hear loud banging at my door, and almost simultaneously my phone starts going off.

I grab my phone off the nightstand on the way to answer the door. "What," I bark out, answering the phone and the door I just wrenched open, at the same time.

"There's been an attack in the dorms," Those are the words that come over the phone to me while a panicked looking Peter Hayes is standing in my doorway. "I tried to stop it…" He blubbers a few seconds behind my guy reporting to me from control.

He isn't even done speaking when I grab his shirt and jerk him into the apartment. "Stay there," I ordered him then turned my attention back to the report still being given to me on the phone.

While they're giving me all the information they have, which isn't much, I'm barking out orders and throwing my uniform back on like I'm preparing for war. I stalk back out into the living room and barely pause long enough to give Peter a look that tells him to follow me, then I'm out the door.

"Speak fast. Tell me exactly what you saw, heard, and did." I command him as he follows me at the fast pace I've set. I could care less that he's, probably, not exactly comfortable seeing as he's barefoot right now.

"The only reason I heard anything was because I was already half-alert, trying to listen for Kat if she still sounded in pain. She had been making these...sort of soft moaning noises even after the medications she took made her pass out. She went quiet though, and at first, I thought it was because she just wasn't hurting anymore and was finally really resting. But then I heard shuffling moving towards the direction of the door out of the dorm. Even that...I didn't think anything of it until I heard her pained moan coming from that direction too. I don't know who it was but someone was trying to carry her out of there. Something happened behind us, and all hell broke loose. I barely managed to stop them from taking her and we all ended up falling down the first few steps during the struggle. There were people screaming and running as the lights came on, Kat wasn't responding and I didn't know what else to do but pick her up and run for it out of the dorm-like everyone else seemed to be doing."

"Where is she then?" I hissed at him angrily.

"A guard stopped me when I was running, I guess he heard what was going on in the dorm and came to check," I nodded at him impatiently as he took a big breath to continue. "He told me to take her to the clinic. I did...and then as soon as they told me they didn't know what was wrong with her and ordered me to leave so they could take care of her, I went to get you."

I curse and stop myself from lashing out at him, saving it for whenever I get my hands on who did this. "Get back to the clinic and stay there until I can get there myself. Someone should already be there to take your statements but I'll be sending Zach to make sure you don't get shit for not going right back to the dorm with the others."

He snaps out of his semi-state of shock at my order, nods, and takes off at a run in the direction of the clinic while I head to the dorm. There isn't a single part of me that doesn't ache to go there myself and be with Kat but the best thing I can do to help Kat is to find out who did this and what they had intended when they were trying to take her out of the dorm.

As soon as I get to the dorm I almost race out in a panic then head to the clinic after the smell of blood hits me.

Peter hadn't said a damn thing about her bleeding!

Despite my instinct, I keep walking into the dorm and that's when I see Tris. Her hands are covered in blood, there's a smear of it on her face, and streaks of it on her bare legs. She's standing in what appears to be a state of shock, silent and not talking or moving...not even really acknowledging Will is currently talking to her softly.

I glance around to find Four is already here and questioning a few of the other initiates while the rest of them are in various parts of the room looking stunned. I stop and listen to him as he cycles through the small group, asking them the same questions, and getting about the same answers that don't provide us any clue to who might have done this. It is clear to me, however, that whoever stabbed Edward in the eye hadn't tried to get him out of the dorm, that only happened with Kat.

When it's also clear I'm not going to get any new information from here I become impatient to get to the clinic to check on Kat. A tick develops in my eye when Four seems to be lingering for way too long and I finally can't take it anymore.

"Obviously, no one saw anything of use to us, which makes them about as useful as I expected. If you'll excuse me I have better things to do with my time." My cold tone earns me a glare from Four and I turn my back on him with a sneer then head back to the stairs. The sneer turns into a grimace when I catch sight of not one puddle of vomit on the floor, but two, as I make my way up the stairs. "I suggest someone clean the room unless you plan on sleeping with that stench because no one else is going to do it for you." Those are my last words to the room in general before I let the dorm room door slam behind me.

****WorthFightingFor****

I ran into Max halfway to the clinic and he didn't hesitate to demand an update from me on everything I was able to find out or suspected while we continued on to the clinic together. I gave him what I had, which was close enough to nothing to have him grinding his teeth loud enough for me to hear without even having to look at him.

"That isn't good enough and you know it, Coulter. We can't afford to lose the few goddamn initiaties we have this year to this kind of shit. Not to mention that Jeanine is going to get wind of this sooner or later and she'll want answers. I'll try to head that off as long as possible but until then I want you to take point in finding out who is responsible and their motivations."

"Understood," I confirm just as we enter the clinic, and then it's right to business as we head straight to where the initiates are being treated. On the way there we pass a catatonic-looking Mayra and Peter, who are both sitting in the hard plastic chairs in the area that serves as a waiting room.

Max automatically barks out a request for a status report on Kat and Edward, and the respective nurses treating each of them bustle over to fill us in on what's going on.

The nurse working on Edward goes first.

"We were able to stabilize him and stop the bleeding but we still don't know the extent of the damage to his eye or if it can be salvaged. I can say preliminary reports are not looking good."

"Dammit," Max mutters under his breath then nods stoically at the other nurse who is the one I'm the most anxious to hear from.

"The female initiate seems not to have sustained much physical trauma but it does look like her trachea was damaged when the attacker attempted to strangle her. She was close to respiratory distress when she was brought in, which I believe was a combination of the strangulation attempt as well as traces of a crude substance that might be similar to chloroform that she inhaled. The young man who brought her in found a cloth over her mouth and neck that was soaked in whatever it is and I've already sent it to be tested for the exact composition. Whatever it ends up being, I'm sure it's what has contributed to the damage and that is making it harder for her to breathe."

"What's being done for her?" Max asks, interrupting me from demanding that myself, and he shoots me a look that tells me to keep my mouth shut and let him handle things.

I listen with rage and fear colliding inside of me while the nurse tells us Kat's been put on oxygen via the nose cannula to help with the breathing. She continues on to say that...thankfully...she didn't need to be intubated and that because her trachea had received so much damage she couldn't have been intubated until the serums had time to help her heal.

The relief I feel at hearing she should recover with very little difficulty is immediate, and that's furthered when Max orders both the nurses to use whatever level of serums, medications, and procedures they need in trying to assist in healing our top rank initiaties.

Before he leaves, Max has one final order for the nurses as well as me. "The initiates are to remain in this clinic until I've personally granted permission for their release. I want hourly updates from both of you as to their status. Eric….I'm putting you in charge of assigning their security. I want both of them in a private room of their own. You have full authority to put whoever you feel is appropriate to the situation as well as controlling any visitors they might be allowed to have."

His tone when he gives me those particular orders as well as the steely gaze he sends my way makes me wonder if he somehow knew that I need to be as near to Kat as I can get right now. He's giving me a huge concession and plenty of wiggle room within his orders and I recognize that.

"Understood. Thank you, sir." I reply with sincerity.

He grunts as a reply then sighs. "Keep me posted on whatever you find out about the attack itself."

He turns on his heel and starts to walk out, slowing slightly as he passes Kat's bed with a troubled expression before he morphs back into grim determination then passes out of the clinic completely.

****WorthFightingFor****

It's just past dawn by the time Kat and Edward could be moved into a private room. I exerted every bit of authority that I had to make sure the only people to get near either of them...though I was mainly concentrating on Kat...were people I approved of. I had Shauna called in to take over care of Kat once she was stabilized enough to be moved. Chase and I worked out who would be on guard rotation and planned for one of us to always be present in the clinic as well, ensuring that if I had to leave for whatever reason I could still know she was being taken care of properly.

As the hour passed and Kat still hadn't even woken up once and I began to become concerned. I knew that she hadn't had to be kept unconscious like she might have been if they had to intubate her. After Max authorized an aerosol application of the healing serum to be introduced to her via her both the nasal cannula and spraying in her mouth, her slightly labored breathing began to become more even. I didn't understand why she wasn't responding in any manner to the noise in the clinic or the stimulus to her body as she was poked and prodded by the staff. So of course, I demanded answers from them about that.

It was determined that the combination of all the medications she received earlier in the night (which I found out were muscle relaxants, a nerve blocker, pain medication, and a time-delayed sleep aid so that she was able to make it back to the dorm) were not interacting well with the substance she inhaled in the attack. It was officially concluded to be chloroform, but the ratio of some of the ingredients and the fact that there were some dangerous additions to it suggest that this was not done professionally. The end result is that it was taking longer to work out of her system and that's why she was still not waking up.

I also couldn't help but to remember when she got hit by those darts during capture. She seemed to go into some kind of self-preservation mode and her mind shut down at first. I wondered if that's part of why she wasn't waking up now because her mind is doing the same thing and trying to protect her from the pain until it became a bit more tolerable.

Shauna insisted that it's better off to let her wake up naturally and reminded me that her being out cold helped her not have to deal with the pain she would likely suffer from the trauma to her windpipe. I agreed with Shauna, of course, and felt better that I had insisted she be the one to take care of Kat because I knew I could trust her. There seemed to be this unspoken agreement between the two of us, to do for Kat what we knew she wouldn't do for herself. So I knew that if there was a hint that Kat might need more of the harder meds, she wouldn't hesitate to give them to Kat before she could object.

When I first met Shauna back in our initiation I wondered if she was going to make it at all despite her being Dauntless-born. My first impression of her was that she was like one of the uppity girls in Erudite that I called 'princess' in my mind, and not at all in the affectionate way Zach calls Kat by that nickname. She was a bit of a gossip, seemed more interested in how she looked or how the guys were looking at her and had a carefree, almost too sweet personality. She wasn't a good fighter and struggled a lot, only making it through that phase because of extra training with Four. None of which screamed Dauntless to me. She did make it in the end and ranked pretty damn good. Good enough to earn her a place in the limited positions available in the clinic and even managed to survive training in Erudite to get their stamp of approval as being 'qualified' enough by their standards.

Of course, we were both still just really kids at only sixteen, so my first impressions were probably tainted by being a teenage boy. For the longest time I really only thought of Shauna as Zeke's girlfriend but in the years since initiation, Shauna has changed. It also didn't help that she had once been friends with Lauren until the girl made a play for Zeke which resulted in Shauna showing just how far her fighting skills had come since initiation.

Maybe it's just her having grown up or maybe it's because she needed to get harder to deal with life as one of the few medically trained staff here in Dauntless. Either way, she's one of the people that leadership knows can be relied on when shit goes sideways for our soldiers.

It's because of Shauna that any visitors get denied to both Kat and Edward and that was after she had to order the group of initiates who showed up to leave when they started to get too loud after following Chase and Four. While Tris wasn't being loud, exactly, she was pretty vocal about her demand to be allowed to stay with her sister. Even the tears brimming in Tris' eyes didn't sway Shauna, nor did Lynn's pleas. She sent everyone away and ordered Four to make sure they made it back to their dorms.

The only exception to anyone being able to stay came from me when I allowed Mayra to stay with Edward, surprising myself and everyone else.

I can't even explain why I ended up stepping in and allowing it other than something about her pleading hit me hard. Maybe it was the fact that she didn't beg to be allowed to stay in the clinic, but instead was begging Shauna to help Edward so that he could stay in Dauntless even though she herself was being cut.

The mousy and weak girl found her bravery and strength finally but it was for the man she loved and was willing to walk away from as long as he could stay in the faction he belonged to.

"She can stay," I inform Shauna gruffly, interrupting the tail end of Mayra trying to plead Edward's case. "Remember Max's orders...see what can be done for him."

I don't wait for a response from anyone because I'm already regretting giving in to the momentary sympathy I had for the girl's plight. I don't care to see how the other's are reacting to me doing something so out of character for me but I can't help to catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye regardless.

Chase nods in understanding then turn to talk to Shauna about what needs to be done while Shauna herself doesn't seem to be concerned about my change of attitude either. It's Four that has a visible reaction. He's watching me with narrowed suspicious eyes and I feel those eyes on me until I disappear behind the door to Kat's room.

I close and then lean against it, unable to face the bed I know she's laying on right away. I take a few seconds to prepare myself but when I do turn I realize that no amount of time would have prepared me for the onslaught of feelings I have seeing her there in that bed.

It's too much and it almost takes me to my knees, instead I stumble forward into the chair and slump into it while burying my head in my hands. When I'm finally able to look up again it's because I've managed to lock everything away, all but the anger pulsing through me. I don't know how long I sit there looking at her but not daring to touch her at first. Not while I'm feeling so angry and definitely not when some of that anger is directed at her.

I can't easily dismiss how angry I am at Kat for not telling any of us how bad she was hurting. I know that she didn't do that to intentionally hurt us, she was probably thinking of how much it would worry us...especially me. We might not have known each other for as long as I do Chase and Zach, but she's rapidly come to know me just as well as my brothers do. She's really concerned about not doing anything to get me in trouble with Max and knowing how I was likely to react, she avoided telling me so that I wouldn't try to do something that would possibly cause me trouble.

Reasoning all this out in my mind eases some of the anger, at least towards her, and I finally scoot my chair closer to her bed and take her hand in mine. There are no cameras here, so I feel safe enough to do this much. What I really long to do is to squeeze myself on the bed and wrap her in my arms.

Not being able to do that…not being able to make her better...not being able to do anything to make the person who did this pay...makes me feel helpless as fuck and that is just not something I am capable of dealing with.

So inevitably it turns back into anger and I know that this anger isn't going to ease or lessen one damn bit until I find the person or persons responsible and make them beg for and then thank me when I finally give them their end.

****WorthFightingFor****

A little before noon I'm forced to finally leave Kat. There are things I need to do that can't be done from the room in the clinic and all of them involve the current investigation. First up is a meeting with Max that had us reviewing the footage from the cameras near the transfer dorm. We started out focusing on the hour or so before lights out until an hour after the attack. The main thing we were looking for is if anyone else that shouldn't have been there entered the dorm in that time frame and we can clearly see that didn't happen. The only people to enter the dorm besides the transfers was Lynn when she and Peter were seen helping her into the dorm after she left the clinic.

Which just fucking wrecked me.

The only other activity was when the camera showed the initiates running out of the dorm in a panic. Most of them stopped right there outside of the dorm, some ran for the Pit and seemed to be looking for help. One girl just ran with no real destination or purpose in mind she was just that freaked out. I was able to confirm Peter's story by watching and everything he told me checked out so it wasn't hard to clear his actions from at least the time after he exited the dorm.

All this really told us was that the attack came from someone who was already in the dorm but it doesn't narrow down who it was and if there were multiple attackers. There are a few indicators that there had to be at least two people involved in the attack and while we have suspicions we don't have proof. The only hope of catching the people at this point is if either Kat or Edward happened can identify them.

A little ways into the meeting with Max we were informed that Jeanine had been trying to get ahold of us and was demanding a conference call. I could tell Max was just as surprised as me by her call and the fact that it was about the attack.

She had way too many details about it and not one of them came from either of us. I always knew that she most likely had others that would pass her information from time to time but I didn't realize that she had access to this much information that we have tried to keep internal.

The surprise of the call quickly wore off for both Max and I, while James was trying to hide a smirk when Jeanine started dismissing Max's concerns and requests for one of their doctors to possibly come and look at Edward and see what can be done for him. I could see the anger he was fighting inside of him when she called the loss of the second ranked initiate as an acceptable one.

"I thought it was understood that the two candidates I've selected are not to be interfered with. The fact that there was not only a kidnapping attempt but also an attempt to kill her when that failed is completely unacceptable. Do you not have control over your own faction? Do I need to step in and assist with everything?"

Even James bristles at that implication and that is saying something because he is the first one to suck up to her. Of course she doesn't notice or care that she's just completely offended her supposed biggest allies, she just blusters on for a few more seconds while calling into question our capabilities.

"I assure you that's not necessary." Max manages to say calmly enough even though it falls on deaf ears and she dismisses him before he even finishes the sentence.

"I would hope so. To get what you want it would be wise to remember what I need. Do whatever it takes to make sure that neither of my strongest candidates are tainted in any way. I will find out if you try and keep something like this from me again."

She doesn't wait for any of us to respond before she disconnects the call. It leaves us all seething and that doesn't let up at all over the next several hours as we continue to try and find answers and make plans. One of the plans requires Max to call another meeting with everyone involved in training. In it he announces that there is going to be a delay of another day or two before the next stage will officially start.

There are two reasons for this, one official and one not so official that only I know about. The first is that there is still some hope Edward will have some level of vision in his eye since we were informed he didn't lose it completely. That isn't being announced though, so the official reason is because of the investigation.

I do get time to go to the clinic to check up on her twice during the day, once for lunch and then again at dinner. It was around lunch that Kat started to show signs of coming around. Chase was with her when she fully gained consciousness again. She was still really out of it though, and drifted into a more natural sleep right after. All of us breathed a little easier when she was able to be taken off the oxygen.

We still aren't allowing any of the other initiates to visit either of them with Mayra being the only exception to that. Since she's due to be cut I've allowed her to just stick with Edward until his own fate can be decided.

In between getting some other work done, I continue trying to find who might have attacked Kat and Edward. Dauntless has always kept any investigations internal. The theory is that the police of the city should be able to police ourselves, besides, it isn't exactly reassuring the rest of the city when there is any hint of things going wrong in Dauntless. The council doesn't mind this so much as long as we turn in a full report of our findings but they do insist on there being a complete investigation. There is also the stipulation that we have to prove without a doubt the guilt or innocence of the person or people accused.

With no evidence or leads the only hope is to have the two who were attacked be able to identify who attacked them. That's not possible for Kat since she was already unconscious when she was attacked. Edward was only able to say that he though there were two people who attacked him. One that held him down while the other covered his mouth and stabbed him. He didn't actually see who either of them were but I had a feeling that he at least has strong suspicions who it could have been.

Because of the restrictions placed on what we could or could not do when investigating in-house, I couldn't simply dose ever initiate with truth serum and find them that way. It looked like unless some other break in the case happened, the bastards would be getting away with it.

All this did was keep my anger at a slow boil. I guess it's not any wonder that it would eventually explode.