Ordinary Acts of Bravery [A Divergent Fanfic]

Chapter 18 - Georgiana's legacy

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch,
a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring,
all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

          With a few quick swipes of the back of my hands, I wiped the remaining tears away. My eyes were stinging as I started running through the compound. Not really knowing what to search for nor particularly wanting to go back to Zeke's apartment, I just ran around hoping to find some clues as to where Eric had gone.

When I passed the accommodation for the second time, I decided to go inside and grab a sweater. The first one I could grab was Eric's of course. It had been lying on my bed, waiting for my return. Casting a quick glance in the mirror in the bathroom, I could see the damage done to me. My lower lip was split, and a bruise was clearly forming on my cheek. I winced at the sight before tearing myself away.

I was biting into the already damaged lip when I turned away, running back the way I came, back towards the pit. I hadn't even gotten halfway there when I overheard someone talking about a fight in the pit. My chest constricted in anticipation, and I ran directly there. It had to be Eric because it sounded different than the usual sparring.

I was met with the sight of a lot of onlookers, watching one fight in the middle of the pit. It wasn't hard to distinguish the two figures, it was Eric and Gabriel. Fists were flying as they tumbled around on the floor, Eric managing to hit his opponent more than Gabriel managed to hit him. It was a dangerous dance and nothing like the sparring I had witnessed earlier, this was real fighting between two dauntless.

I sprang into action when Eric threw another punch at Gabriel, sending him directly into the ground. I was certain I heard the impact of Gabriel's head against the stone underneath. Eric then threw himself down onto his knees and crawled over him, taking half a crouch, half a kneeling position over Gabriel's limp body. Then he grabbed him by the neck of his shirt before raising his chest off of the floor. Gabriel no longer had any strength left to fight back.

I pushed with everything I had, slipping through the crowd of onlookers directly towards Eric and Gabriel. No one dared stop the two, they were only silently watching as they tore each other apart, though Eric had the upper hand right now. I could easily see that Gabriel wouldn't last much longer if no one stepped in.

"Eric!" I screamed, gaining his attention almost immediately. He lowered the hand he had already raised, ready to strike again. "Stop it." I pleaded but Eric's expression only hardened at those words, and he raised his hand again, executing the punch he had started before I had interrupted him.

Gabriel was no longer fighting back, hanging limply from Eric's tight grasp on the hem of his shirt. "Eric—enough!" I screamed his name again before throwing my entire body at him, tackling him and forcing him off of Gabriel. Somehow, I manage to land on top of Eric, but he quickly had us flipped around, pinning me beneath him instead and against the floor as he rests on all four above me.