Ordinary Acts of Bravery [A Divergent Fanfic]

Chapter 38 - Crossing the line

"One of the sincerest forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say."

Everything changed faster than I could follow. Eric had returned to his old self, grumpy and violent all the time. The initiates had been training for three weeks already. Eric had even thrown another initiate over the bridge of the chasm, the candor smart mouth who had commented on Four's name.

Eric had let her hang for five minutes, giving her the same options, he had given me. I had given him an earful when finding out, but he had only told me to back off. The unexpected meetings with his mother had been just as triggering as the rest. Janine had begun visiting dauntless more frequently. Her unexpected visits annoyed Eric more than he let on. I could see it in him. He was getting easier to read. Which weren't unexpected, we had been together for a year now.

I scrubbed my face before entering the training room. I was unexplainably tired all the time. Everything was becoming too much. Erudite was up to something and Max was in on it. Eric too, but only because his mother demanded his presence. Max didn't let the rest of the leaders know too much of what was going on. It was getting really annoying because he treated us like children sometimes.

When I entered the training room, I found that the initiates were gathered in front of the plywood targets, throwing knives at them. I smiled when remembering how it had been the only thing, I had been good at. Eric stood behind them, hands gathered in front of him. He had his back turned to me, so he didn't notice my approach at first.

"Hey." I whispered and touched Eric's arm. He turned to me, his expression softened momentarily before it hardened again when he turned back to observe the initiates. I had seen the twitch of his hand. It moved as if he wanted to reach for my hand but regretted when remembering where we were. I blew out a breath and squeezed his arm again. Eric didn't turn back to me, so I lowered the hand again.

There was one of the boys who didn't do particularly well. Even I could see that. Every time he threw a knife at the already empty target, it clattered against the floor instead. I grimaced and looked away. Eric, however, stepped closer and came to stand behind him.

"Well, that was pathetic." He scoffed. The initiate turned around to look at Eric for a moment. Eric raised an eyebrow in challenge and forced the initiate to turn away again. He did so with a small groan. I watched as he struggled with finding his words.

"It slipped." He finally muttered and turned back to Eric. I didn't have to look at Eric to know that it was the wrong words he had spoken. Eric tensed up and raised an eyebrow at the initiate. I raised my arms to wrap them around my chest. Four shook his head and looked away. I barely noticed from the corner of my eyes. It's a disapprovingly gesture from Four and even he fears what Eric would do next.

"Well go get it!" Eric commands, his voice raised enough for everyone to hear over the sound of throwing knives. My attention snap back to Eric but he's not looking at me. His attention is fixated on the boy in front of him. He's a bit taller than Eric but he isn't intimidated at all.