Soulmates

Chapter 6: Tobias and Eric

Leaving the infirmary, Four runs directly to his secret spot by the Chasm. There are no cameras there, and no other camera can get a glimpse of the area. The roar of the river is loud enough to drown out the sounds of the compound, making Four feel the peace of solitude that he can't find anywhere else in Dauntless.

I came here to get away from this stupid soulmate business, and instead I walked right into it! Tobias thinks, tugging on his hair and wishing he had some liquor to drown out reality.

Tobias "Four" Eaton left Abnegation in part to get away from his abusive father, and in part because of his soulmarks. He'd seen his whole life how soulmates could mess everything up, and he wanted no part of it.

His parents, Abnegation council head Marcus Eaton and Evelyn (Johnson) Eaton were both born in Abnegation. Both had grey soulmarks on their right shoulders. Evelyn's said "mama" in simple printing. "Mama" and "Dada" are common soulmarks among people who have known each other their whole lives. Marcus' grey mark sits higher on his shoulder, and it says "no."

Because of the nature of their markings, and the fact that they grew up together, it was impossible for Tobias' parents to pinpoint their first interaction. Because both marks were so small, just two and four letters, they couldn't even judge the handwriting.

Tobias always questioned whether or not his parents truly were soulmates. The marks were vague. Marcus' sits on the top of his shoulder, where Evelyn's had been more to the front. But most compelling of all was the abuse. In Tobias' mind, no soulmate would treat their match the way Marcus treated Evelyn.

But no parent should treat their own child the way Marcus had treated Tobias, either.

One of Marcus' go-to tyrades when he beat his son was Tobias' strange double markings. Sometimes Marcus would rant about his son's apparent future loose morality, calling him a bigamist. He would go on and on about how no son of his would end up defecting to Amity, where rumor had it you could have more than one wife. Other times Marcus would claim that Tobias' double soulmarks indicated that he was bisexual. That was another unacceptable explanation in Marcus' narrow views, thus another excuse to beat his son.

Tobias hates his soulmarks. He hates their vagueness. He hates having two. He hates the marks for all the beatings they fueled. And now that he knows one of them probably ties him to his rival, Eric, he hates them more than ever.

xxxx

After Four leaves and Hana returns to her rounds, Eric stays with Tris, watching her sleep.

Erudite had a rivalry-like relationship with Abnegation for Eric's entire life. Because of this, Eric's mother had suppressed her Erudite urge for research and exploration, and never told anyone about her son’s double grey soulmarks. The last thing Eric's mother wanted was for other people to start calling her only son a "Stiff lover." This led Eric know from a young age that the grey words on his hips had to remain a secret.

His otherwise nurturing mother's disapproval and his own self-loathing made Eric an angry young man. He blamed himself and his grey soulmarks for his father leaving when he was a baby. He picked fights in school. He fixated on preparing himself for a life in Dauntless, as no Abnegation had ever transferred to the warrior faction.

Eric had been shaken when Tobias Eaton transferred, and had almost decided to stay in Erudite. If Tobias had been a female transfer, Eric knows he would have stayed In his home faction. But Tobias was male, and Eric had never been attracted to other men, so he decided to go through with his plan.

The two transfers had a legendary rivalry during initiation. Four had the upper hand after day one fear landscapes revealed that he only had four fears, but Eric got through his twelve with lightning speed. In physical training, Four was on the winning team in capture the flag. Eric set a new Dauntless record for field stripping and reassembling a weapon. Four was a natural at knife throwing. Eric had more accuracy with guns. At the end of phase one, the two transfers were tied for first place until their final fight.

To break the tie, their trainer, Amar, pitted Four and Eric against one another. The fight was an epic grudge match that is still discussed around the Dauntless compound. The two initiates exchanged blows for more than thirty minutes straight. They kicked, punched, and grappled, landing and ducking blows until both boys were bruised and bloodied. Then Four landed a lucky punch - at least in Eric's opinion.

The former Erudite woke up in the infirmary several hours later with a missing tooth, a cracked rib, and a concussion. Most painful of all was the bruise to his ego knowing he was now in second place, and that he had been beaten by a stiff.

During the second phase of their initiation, Eric actually passed Four again. As the initiates faced their fears one at a time, Eric was faster getting through his. Four had one particular fear that constantly tripped him up, and Eric began to suspect that the Erudite reports of Marcus abusing his son were true. Even though Four was his rival, Eric hated the idea of anyone abusing their child, and he found himself feeling less animosity toward the other initiate.

The uneasy peace between the boys snapped when their trainer, Amar, was found dead. For whatever reason, Four believed that Eric had a role in the trainer's death. The accusation combined with their ongoing competitiveness in a volatile mixture that guaranteed the two young men would never be able to let go of their feud.

When their final rankings were revealed, Four's small number of fears and that lucky shot in their fight pushed him ahead of Eric, and the former Abnegation finished first. Eric was devastated. All he had wanted was to prove that he belonged in Dauntless by securing a leadership position.

Eric hated Abnegation. Like most Erudite, he felt that selflessness, or pretended selflessness, was no reason to give someone power. He felt that power should belong to the smart or the strong, because they would know what to do with it and how to hold on to it. He hated Abnegation because of his soulmarks. And he hated Abnegation because he was beaten by Four.

Then Eric got a surprise, and Four actually declined a leadership position. In an uncharacteristic move, Max offered the position to Eric. Usually only the first ranked got a shot at leadership. In the end, Eric got what he wanted, but he never got past the chip on his shoulder, and the need to continually prove his worth.