Infallible

Chapter 19

The Pit buzzed with life. Dauntless that were finishing dinner were starting to kick back and let loose, as was the nightly ritual. Most had drinks in hand. The volume seemed to increase as time passed. Eric and Rae had entered the Pit together, his hand protectively on her lower back. She sat with him at the leader table, and tried her hardest to act normally. It was rather difficult to eat knowing at least 20 pairs of eyes were on you at any given moment.
I suppose it was bound to happen sometime. She thought to herself. She did her best to follow mildly along with the conversation at the leaders table. Once she finished nibbling at her plate, she and Eric excused themselves. He walked her to the bar, bought her a drink and together they scanned the room for Four.
"There." Unsurprisingly, Eric spotted him first. He had a height advantage. Once Rae located him, she gave Eric a quick kiss and began to make her way through the crowd. She began to notice as she made her way through the crowd, how easy it was now compared to a couple of short weeks ago. The night she spilled her drink all over herself and Eric she hadn't even been able to keep hold of her friends hand. Now, the crowd parted fairly easily for her, and if someone bumped into her they were quick to mutter an apology. Rae knew that it was almost certainly because of Eric.
She drew near to where Four stood and paused a short distance outside of the circle of people he was with. She waited for him to notice her standing there, and when he did she motioned him over.
"Rae." He nodded an abrupt greeting. "Something I can do for you?"
"Actually Four, yeah. I, um, I need your help."
"My help?" He raised his eyebrows at her. "Can't your boyfriend take care of it? I've helped you more than I probably should have already."
"And I'm so grateful. Look I can't talk about it here, but Eric knows I need your help. He knows I'm asking you to help me... He's not exactly happy about it, but, he's on board at least. You're the only one who might be able to help me out of this... Situation. Because you and I have a common enemy." She looked at him pointedly when she said the last sentence, and she could see the realization of what she meant appear on his face. The shock value of Eric agreeing to let Rae come to him for help was enough for Four to agree to hear her out.
"Meet me in the office of the training room. Now. I'll hear you out, but I'm not promising anything."
She nodded and they made their way out of the Pit. Rae scanned the room quickly for Eric, but she couldn't see him. Deciding to just go get this taken care of, she hurried out of the Pit in Fours wake and made her way to the training room office.
Once they got there, Four wasted no time. Turning to face her, he asked,
"What?"
"Umm, well... last night Eric took me to some dinner party at Erudite headquarters."
Before she could continue, Four scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"Look I know you hate each other. But please listen." She pleaded. He sighed and nodded once so she continued. "I didn't realize that all the faction leaders would be there, until I looked up and saw Marcus."
Four went slightly rigid, but he didn't say anything, allowing her to go on.
"I did my best to play it cool, but then he was seated right across from me, and Eric um, leaned down to kiss me and I could just feel Marcus's eyes on us the whole time. It was making me sick. Anyways, I went in to the ladies room to try and calm down, but when I came out, Marcus ambushed me. And... Four I don't know how but he knows I'm divergent. He knows, and he threatened to tell Jeanine if I don't, I don't know, make up for whatever loss he suffered or whatever when I fucked up their plans."
Four was silent and still as a statue for what felt like a long time to Rae. Finally he spoke,
"You told Eric you're Divergent?"
"What? No. Of course not, I haven't told anyone."
"So what does he know? How did you pull off getting him to agree to you asking me for help?"
"I told him I was ashamed. That I would rather live factionless than have anyone else find out what they tried to do to me. He knows everything else, about my father and Marcus's deal. He says taking care of my father I guess, but when I found out that Marcus knew about me, I knew I needed your help. Eric wants me to go to Jeanine, tell her the truth and get them both thrown out of their factions. That's fine for my father, but Marcus will open his mouth and then I'm dead. Without your help Four, I'm dead."
He stood in shock, eyes wide starting at Rae.
"What in the hell do you expect me to do about it? He beat the shit out of me Rae, we aren't best buds."
Rae's eyes filled with sympathy for him. She then realized just how awful her future would have been, had she obeyed her father and chosen Abnigation. Life with Marcus would have been just as bad, if not worse, than life with her father. She would have died bruised, used and alone.
"I'm sorry Four. I am. I know how that feels, you know I do. But if Marcus tells Jeanine, it won't just affect me. You have to know that. I'm not the first Divergent to cross your path, am I? She won't just let this go. You and Tori might go down for helping me. You're the ones who have administered all my tests."
Four met her gaze for a few minutes while he considered. Rae could see his jaw tensing, and though he looked at her, it felt to Rae as if he wasn't really seeing her. He was thinking hard.
"I have an idea. It's madness, but it might work if we pull it off right."
"Do tell."
"You're not going to like it. Neither is your overprotective boyfriend. However, if you want my help then my ass isn't going to be the only one on the line. I also have a few important stipulations."
Rae swallowed. "Fair enough. What's your plan?"
***