Faction before blood?

Chapter 21

It was initiation day and I was on my way to the fear landscape room inside the huge glass building, where the final test was held, right in this moment.

Eric's been there for hours, while I busied myself with cleaning up the apartment. Since I had moved in, the once spotless flat wasn't as clean as it used to be, which made me feel guilty. So I scrubbed the floor for over an hour on my knees, as my belly was weighting me down. In the end, I was exhausted, but everything was shining and I decided to take a well-deserved

Nap, before going out.

Now I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Eric, before they went off to discuss the rankings. I arrived at the landscape room, just as the last initiate came out of it, causing the people around me to cheer so loudly, I had to cover my ears.

Throughout my pregnancy, I had become more vulnerable for headaches, so I tried to avoid loud noises as much as possible.

So I squeezed through the throngs of dauntless and stepped into the fear landscape room, trying not to look through the glass.

I wasn't afraid of heights, like my brother was, but looking down into the pit from such a height, made me dizzy.

Inside, the floor was made of stone, once again. Otherwise, my brother, who was smiling at me, as he put away the equipment, wouldn't have been able to work here.

I just know it.

I spotted Eric talking to Max, so I waited patiently, to not disturb them. Max saw me waiting and gave me a small nod, acknowledging my presence. Registering his movement, Eric turned around and as he saw me standing there, my hands folded above my huge belly, he beckoned me over.

"What brings you here today, Amy?" Max asked, as Eric slung his arm around my back and kissed my head.

"I just wanted to see this big oaf here, before he would disappear again." I joked, lightly nudging Eric, who scowled at me, seemingly not happy that I was here.

"So you walked over narrow pathways, without a railing, because you couldn't wait a few more minutes to see me?" He asked, sounding pissed.

I stepped out of his embrace, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "Why are you so angry?"

"Maybe," he started, widening his stance, trying to intimidate me. "because my wife thought it would be okay, to risk the health of our baby, by coming up here without a valid reason."

His harshness, made my tear up.

"So you think I'm not a good mother?" I asked him, deeply wounded, as I took a step away from him.

"For fucks sake, Amy!" Eric groaned. "Don't always twist my words."

I turned around, to blink away my tears and I came to face broad shoulders. Looking up, I met deep blue eyes, that looked down on me in concern.

Needing my brother's comfort, to soothe my feelings, I wrapped my arms around him and hid my face in his chest. He sighed, mirroring my movements, before talking lowly to me.

"Amy, he just had to watch 30 fear landscapes, with the lowest amount of 10 and the highest at 18 fears, he's just annoyed. You know he didn't mean it like that."

I sniffled, turning my head slightly, to see Eric running his hands through his hair.

"Really?"

Toby gave me one of his rare, genuine smiles. "I promise."

Turning away from Tobias, I once again faced to two leaders, from which one looked amused and the other exasperated.

"I'm sorry." I addressed Eric meekly, still sniffling, making him roll his eyes.