Complicated Love (Divergent Peter Fanfic)

You Promised

When we were done eating dinner, Four disappeared, and Eric led us down a series of hallways, not saying a word. Sometimes he would look over his shoulder and look at me. Everyone was silent and after a while, Eric stopped in front of a wooden door and folded his arms. I stopped in front of him and everyone else went around him.

"For those of you who don't know, my name is Eric," he said, "I am one of the five leaders of Dauntless. We take the initiation process very seriously here, so I volunteered to oversee most of your training." So that meant that we would see each other every day, and I noticed that when he had said training he looked at me for a moment, as if thinking the same thing as I had. "Some ground rules, you have to be in the training room by eight o'clock every day. Training takes place every day from eight to six, with a break for lunch. You are free to do whatever you like after six. You will also get some time off between each stage of initiation." Great, so after training I would be able to do absolutely anything. "You are only permitted to leave the compound when accompanied by a Dauntless," Eric continued, "Behind this door is the room where you will be sleeping for the next few weeks. You will notice that there are ten beds. So you will all get one."

"But we started with twelve." Christina protested. She has to learn to be quiet.

"There is always at least one transfer who doesn't make it to the compound." Eric answered, picking at his cuticles like Peter had done when we had first arrived and asked to jump off the roof. He shrugged as if it were no big deal, "Anyway, in the first stage of initiation, we keep transfers and Dauntless-born initiates separate, but that doesn't mean you are evaluated separately. At the end of initiation, your rankings will be determined in comparison with the Dauntless-born initiates. And they are better than you already. So I expect-"

"Rankings?" asked the Erudite girl with the brown hair who had asked if there was water in the hole before we jumped off the roof. "Why are we ranked?"

Eric smiled, the holes of his piercings getting bigger. "Your rankings serves two purposes, the first is that it determines the order in which you will select a job after initiation. There are only a few desirable positions available. The second purpose is that only the top ten initiates are made members."

My heart dropped. Top ten? Then did the rest become factionless? What happens to the rest? A shudder went through me at the thought. I will be in the top ten. I told myself firmly.

"What?" Christina asked. "There are eleven Dauntless-borns, and only ten of you." He continued, "Four initiates will be cut after the final test."

"What do we do if we're cut?" Peter asked Eric the question that all of us were waiting to hear but not willing to ask, all of us scared of what the answer might be.

"You leave the Dauntless compound, and live factionless." was all he said.

The Erudite girl started crying, trying to cover it up by sobbing in her hand.

"But that's...not fair!" Molly protested, even I know she shouldn't have said that. "If we had known-"

"Are you saying that if you had known this before the Choosing Ceremony, you wouldn't have chosen Dauntless?" Eric asks, and edge to his voice. "Because if that's the case, you should get out now. If you are really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. And if it does, you are a coward." This was not the Eric I had known. The nice and caring Eric, he did have a mean side even when I had known him but he was meaner now, and different. He pushed the door open. "You chose us," he said, "Now we choose you."

Everybody was quiet as they made their way toward the door, though I didn't move.

"Babe, you coming?" Peter asked me.