Broken, But Brave

Chapter 2: Beginning to Break

2 years later

"Eric! Eric!" 

At the sound of Annabelle's voice, Eric turned to find her running in his direction from Abnegation. Immediately understanding her distress, Eric left the group of other Erudite boys he'd been in a heated debate with and immediately ran to her aid, falling in stride with her steps as the pair ran back towards the little grey house that had become all too familiar to Eric. As always, the pair stopped a few houses down from Annabelle's so that she could fill him in on the specifics of the situation, only this time Annabelle was at a loss for words. Eric had never seen her so panicked, which clued him in to just how bad it must be this time around. 

Hoping to ease her worry, Eric pulled Annabelle into his arms and allowed her to cry into his chest. He stroked her back and placed soft kisses to the top of her head, quietly shushing her cries so as to not draw attention from surrounding members of Abnegation. Knowing they couldn't waste any more time, Eric pulled back from Annabelle and bent down slightly to be at eye level with her, helping to wipe away some stray tears as he did so. 

"Hey. He's going to be fine. Just go out to the fields and get prepped. I'll bring him to you. Okay?" 

"Okay. Thank you." 

"You don't have to thank me, Belle. He's my best friend and you're my girl. I'd do anything for you both. Now go. Get prepped." 

Annabelle nodded quickly at Eric's words, taking a few more deep breaths to fully compose herself before leaning up on her tip toes and placing a quick kiss to his lips before making her way to the med kit stashed in the field. 

After about ten minutes of waiting, Eric finally made his way into the fields with a weary looking Tobias on his arm. Annabelle instantly stood to help ease Tobias off of Eric and onto the ground where she made quick work of assessing his injuries. As usual, Tobias was far too tired to engage in much conversation, so Eric and Annabelle kept one another company while she worked. 

"How bad was it this time?" 

"He's getting stronger, but so are we. Tobias wasn't too bad; he was still fighting back. Made it easier to take Marcus down." 

"Good. I'm glad. Did he get any hits in? Do you need anything?" 

"No, babe, I'm fine. Just focus on this idiot here." 

"I can hear you, asshole." 

Annabelle and Eric both chuckled at Tobias' strained response. No matter how badly Marcus beat him, he always managed to stay his usual cocky self. As Annabelle finished treating his wounds, he slowly sat himself up and the three stared into the horizon to watch the sunset. At some point in the night, Annabelle found herself curling into Eric, doing her best not to fall asleep. Luckily, she didn't need to try for too long as the conversation suddenly shifted to involve her as well. 

"Anna. Wake up. We need to talk." 

Slowly and most unwillingly, Annabelle shifted her body against Eric's to face Tobias more easily. 

"Listen, Anna, choosing ceremony is in a couple of months. We need to talk about what's going to happen." 

Eric immediately noticed the way that Annabelle tensed in his arms and placed a comforting kiss to her temple while pulling her in closer as a means of comfort. Tobias gave a short nod of thanks to Eric as he continued with the impending conversation.