les sequelles - Eric Coulter 1

3. Fear

RW: Fear - Eric Coulter

(A/N) Here it is! I really don't know how to feel about this one....I love the request, but I don't feel like I did it justice...well, I still hope you enjoy it.

Pairing: Eric Coulter x Redaer

Warnings: nightmare, fear, panic, blood, bad coping

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Wake up.

Wake up.

With a jerk, my body shot upright. My eyes ripped open as my hands clamped down over my mouth, barely holding back the scream that tried to escape me. My whole body was shivering and it took me a minute to realize that the images I'd just seen were a dream. A nightmare.

I let myself fall back onto the thin mattress, willing my heart to stop beating so quickly. Closing my eyes, I tried to think about the good things. My parents, my sister, my dog. But nothing helped. I sat up again, cursing the rules and ways of the Amity. Being dosed with the serum whenever we had a nightmare or a panic attack or any negative emotion in general.

I tried taking deep breaths, pressed my hands against my chest and even tried pinching myself. All the things I was told would calm someone, but whenever I stopped distracting myself, the images came back.

A factionless, grabbing me and dragging me away from my parents. It took the Dauntless soldiers hours before they found me. They shot the man.

With fresh, new fear shooting through me, I pushed the blanket off me and slipped into my sneakers. As quietly as possible, I sneaked out of the room and up the stairs, my feet carrying me to the training room.

What I didn't know, is that, although I tried to be as quiet as possible, I woke someone up.

Eric POV

I frowned as I watched Y/N sneaking around the beds. She was heading for the stairs.

As soon as she was gone, I laid back down, trying to go back to sleep. But every time I closed my eyes, Y/N heading up the stairs appeared before me. I had to admit that I'd grown to care about her. Sure, she was competition, serious competition even, but the sweet girl from Amity, who could throw a mean punch if needed had captured my heart only a few weeks into initiation.

After waiting for a few minutes, I decided to give up on sleep for the night and instead follow Y/N. Not to spy or anything. I just wanted to make sure that she was okay.

I slipped on my shoes and grabbed my jacket before following her. But as I arrived at the top of the stairs, I realized that I had no idea where she'd gone to. The idea of going back to bed appeared in my head, but I immediately decided against it. Instead, I mentally listed all the locations she could be at and decided to search each of them.

Kitchen, nope.

Med bay, nah.

Chasm, no.

Pit, no one in sight.

Roof, nada.

The only place left was the training room. And I wish I'd searcher there earlier. The closer I came to it, the louder the noises grew. I frowned as my steps instinctively quickened. Only when I stood at the door, did I realize what the noises were.

Y/N was standing in front of a punching bag, throwing one punch after the other. No breaks, no hesitation. But as she drew her fist back, I noticed something shining on her knuckles. It reflected the light in a weird way, and I stepped a bit closer, until I recognized the red color. Blood.

She'd been punching for so long, that she managed to bust the skin covering her knuckles. I walked up to her with quick steps, and grabbed her wrist, midway to the punching bag.

Her eyes snapped to me and I almost jumped. They were blown wide and red. Tears stained her cheeks and were still running down her face and snot was running from her nose.

"Y/N..." She didn't answer. Instead, she ripped her hand from my grip and returned to punching.

"Y/N." No reaction.

"Y/N!" I roughly grabbed her shoulders and turned her to look at me. Out of reflex, one of her fists connected with my jaw, sending me stumbling back. As I looked up, I found her staring at me with a worried look.

"Eric...I..." Her hands, still balled into fists hung beside her body, letting blood drip to the ground. I quickly gathered myself and walked up to her. She still stared at me, following my every move with her eyes.

I noticed her muscles tensing up as I stepped closer to her, but I quickly raised my hands.

"I won't hurt you. I promise." She slowly nodded and relaxed again.

Just as slowly, I reached down and lifted one of her hands. It was a bloody mess. Literally. With a sigh, I slowly lead her over to the benches and told her to sit down, while I grabbed a med kit. She did as told and waited for me to return. She hung her head and I could hear drops of something hit the floor. Whether it was blood or tears, or both, I didn't know.

I returned to her and kneeled down in front of her, raising her face with a finger. Her eyes met mine and even more tears welled up in her eyes.

"Ssshh..." I grabbed a cloth and carefully started to wipe the tears and snot away. When that was done, I turned my attention to her knuckles. Some of that blood had dried by now, making it hard to see the actual wounds.

I rummaged through the med kit until I found some disinfectant and cotton balls.

"This is going to stink." I dowsed the cotton ball in the liquid and carefully started to clean up the knuckles. The first time that the cotton ball touched Y/N's skin, her other hand shot out and grabbed my shirt at the shoulder. Her face was scrunched up in discomfort and I decided to get this over with as quickly as possible.

As soon as her hands were clean, I put some ointment on the wounds before I wrapped both hands up. I threw away the trash and put back the med kit before I sat down next to Y/N. As soon as I did, she leaned on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Y/N weakly shook her head and I nodded.

"Okay...but...next time. Wake me up, okay? Before you do...that." This time she nodded, still as weakly though.

We sat there for a while just enjoying each other's company before I noticed Y/N shivering beside me. I grabbed the jacket I brought and carefully wrapped it around her shoulders, smiling when I noticed how big it was on her.

After about half an hour, I noticed light snores coming from the girl next to me. One look at the clock told me that we had only two more hours before the trainers would probably wake up us.

I quickly picked Y/N up and carried her back to hall all initiates sleep in. Carefully, I placed her in her bed, took of her shoes and pulled the blanket over her. I went back to my bed and tried to catch a bit more sleep before the next day of training began.

The next day, as everyone was getting ready, I walked over to Y/N'S bed.

"Change bed with me." The boy, who had the bed next to Y/N's looked surprised.

"No." I raised an eyebrow, surprised that he dared say no. He and the other initiates are usually more afraid of me.

"It wasn't a question." I glared at him until he gave up and quickly grabbed his stuff before darting in the direction of my bed. Y/N looked at me surprised, but I just shrugged, so she continued getting ready.

Most of the initiates had already left when Y/N approached me. She held out the jacket I'd draped over her last night.

"I...thank you." I smiled at her. When she wasn't in the ring, she was quiet and timid. Cute.

"Keep it. It looks better on you." A smile took over her face and she pulled it on. She turned to follow the other ones, before she turned back again, and looked at me.

"What?" I chuckled. 

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