Choose Your Own Adventure: Divergent

Eric Epilogue- 142

You look for Eric in the cavern, but he isn't there. Eventually, someone points you to a cell, where he lies, bruised and seething, arms slung over his legs.

"Go away, initiate," he tells you, not looking up. "Get out of here."

You grab the bars of the cell, flashing the pass Tris gave you to get in at the guards. "What?"

"He was controlling the sim," the guards explain to you solemnly. "He will face his justice."

You shove past them into the cell, and stand in front of Eric.

"What is wrong with you?" you shout, the hurt swelling up into hot, wet anger. "What is wrong with you?"

Eric's fingers clench into a fist, but he doesn't move. "It was for Jeanine," he spits, head rolling up to face you. "She had us do it. It was the whole reason I'm in Dauntless in the first place."

"You killed people," you whisper, eyes wide, sitting down across from him.

"And now they're going to kill me," he retorts, huffing out a bitter laugh. "And you're not going to be there when it happens."

He uses his large hand to push you back. "Go away, kid."

***

The trial is barely a trial at all. Eric doesn't react except for a few choice jabs that anger even the Amity. The factions vote for capital punishment. He will face a firing squad by the end of the week.

"Don't do it, Tris," you say to her in low tones as you both walk down the Pit one day. "He's with me. I'll watch him, make sure it never happens again-"

"We must have justice," she says, sighing and pushing back her hair. "Y/N, I don't know what's in your head, but he's responsible for murder. He is going to die. That's not negotiable."

She leaves you at that, and you run back to the cell. The guards instinctively part, and Eric rolls his eyes. "I told you to go away."

You sit down in the cell. "Well, I'm not going to."

Eric grimaces, shaking his head. "Well, then you'll die along with me and it'll all be for nothing."

"Don't do that," you say, getting up with a huff and punching your hand along the wall. Your knuckles sting, but you ignore them. "Don't push me away, Eric. In a week, you'll be dead."

He freezes at that, for a split second, then relaxes back into the same seat, jaw working. "Yeah, well, then, all the more reason not to get too attached to me."

"You're attached to me," you say, and Eric shakes his head.

"No," he says, turning his face to the wall. "Go away."

"I saw the way you watched me when I won those fights," you say, moving closer. "I saw how you were right before the sim. I saw how you were when you kissed me."

"It means nothing," he starts, "go-"

You lean forward and kiss him, and, for a moment, he freezes, then leans into it, kissing you back and pulling you over to him.

"Shouldn't have done that, recruit," he mumbles against your lips, but he holds you to him. He smells like leather and tastes like smoke, and the kiss is long, so drawn out that the two of you have to pause for breath every now and then. But it lasts, and Eric doesn't let go until he pulls back with a sigh, spinning you around so you can sit with him, facing the guards.

"I was too dumb to be Erudite," he tells you, wiping his mouth. Your heart is still giddy from the kiss, kicking in a drumbeat. "And too crooked to be Dauntless. Jeanine told me that it was my purpose to come here, to do this. And now that it's over..."