Venus Eaton is desperate to escape the abuse of her previous faction although she is unaware and unprepared of the ordeals of Dauntless initiation. She is a stranger to her own brother until he accuses her of murdering their mother, and finds out th...
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VENUS
A DAY LATER | THE CHOOSING CEREMONY
MY CHEEKS are on fire. My father lingers, his stance rigid, his left hand raised and then my skin burns. I cling to the door handle for dear life and as soon as my father's gaze adverts to somewhere else, I push down the handle and run. All I hear is my father's demanding yells.
"Venus! Venus, you disobedient child!"
But I just kept running. Dodging bins as I sprint down alleyways, running alongside the buses that are taking off towards the Choosing Ceremony, feeling free for the last time in my grey slacks. My father's yells morph into the distance and the sunkissed horizon soothes my burning skin. Freedom rushes through my veins and I don't know if I could ever stop.
My brother left me with him five years ago. He escaped to the Dauntless. He told me when my chance came, to choose Amity. It would be safer there, he had told me, and I couldn't fathom why he had told me so. The beatings had gotten worse with every year I grew older, and I've waited for this day my entire life.
Now that it's here, I can't risk making the wrong decision.
My name is Venus Eaton, and I'm the daughter no one knows about. I'm the daughter who'd hide in the bathroom, listening to the beating my brother was getting from behind the paper-thin walls. I'm the daughter who never attended any meeting, dinner party or any social event. I'm the girl my brother hated, the sister he hated six years ago when he left and the sister he probably still hates now.
I'm the girl that never existed.
***
"What the fuck was you thinking!?" Marcus's palm held my wrist tightly, stinging and restricting as brings me aside - away from the hustle of the other factions.
"Shhh!" I plead, my eyes wide. As much as I despise my father, if anyone sees him mistreating his daughter following the allegations, he'll lose his job as a faction leader. It's my Abnegation kicking in, the Abnegation I always dread, because I don't want to stay here. The Abnegation part of me that I'd happily go without. "We're in public now. Fucking-"
"Swear at me again, and I'll-"
A shadow passes by the wall. Muscular arms, broad shoulders - the shadow is much taller than me or even Marcus. I stare, a part of me hoping whoever it was would see the annihilating grasp Marcus has on me, although the other part of me hoped otherwise.
"You'll what?" He says, plaid and courageous like he fears nothing in the world. In fact, perhaps, he is the fear himself.
He comes into view. His eyes are steel grey, his hair is styled into a strip of hair running down his head. He is muscular - the definition of a Greek God. And, he is in Dauntless uniform.
If men are as hot as he is in Dauntless, I've made my mind up. I think, unaware of the smirk that's forming on my lips as I scan the Dauntless man up and down.
Possibly for too long, as the man's eyes meet mine and I realize it's too late to look away. I don't want to come across weak, like the scars on my wrists could suggest.
Marcus stutters, his eyes wide, and the pressure around my arm loosens until both of Marcus's arms fall loosely to his sides. A breath of relief managed to slip through my lips, quiet so Marcus wouldn't hear.
"Oh, Eric. What a surprise seeing you here today!" Marcus speaks in his formal tone; it sounds so strange to me as I've only heard his raised, demanding voice over the past couple months. It sounds almost fake to me, too, and I wonder if the man - Eric - hears it too.
I observe Eric again, carefully, prepared to look away in time, this time. His eyes rest judgementally on my father like he is capable of killing him just with his eyes. Even Marcus himself flinches, something I never imagined him doing, and suddenly I crave Eric's strength... I need it, how could I have gone without it?
"I asked you a question, Marcus." He says again, sharper this time, yet eerily quiet. I decide to flash a hostile glare at my father while he's looking at the Dauntless man, out of defiance. Marcus dips his head once, not quite meeting Eric's eyes. The corner of Eric's lips twitch.
"I-I was reminding my daughter to not swear in public. I taught her when she was very young and I don't want her to lose her manners."
There is a long silence after his words. I stay still, almost rigid, wanting to scream that he was doing much more than that, wanting to challenge his words, but I don't.
"Your daughter..." Eric says, his voice less sharp. I meet his steel grey eyes when he says my name, unblinking, as though he'd turned me to stone. "What faction will she be choosing today?
It is the shock of the previous moments that linger in my mind, how Eric had spoken back to my father in such a tone. Usually, I wouldn't have stuttered, or maybe I would've - standing in front of a man like Eric, who seemed calm but fatally dangerous.
"My daughter will be choosing Abnegation today. That is her birth faction, and that is where she truly belongs." Marcus replies steadily, nodding his head and crossing his arms behind his back. Eric raises his brows, and in the light that beams through the glass panes, I see the piercings in his face illuminate. I stare for a while longer until I realize my father's words. I need to change them.
I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. Marcus stiffens, and I quickly glance down at my feet before returning my attention to Eric.
"I've had a change of plan." I murmur. "I think Dauntless suits me better."
Eric smirks lightly, a rather cruel smirk, that makes my blood curdle. Although, instead of flinching away like Marcus had done, I raise an eyebrow, eyes suggestive.
"Is there a problem with that?" I question, pursing my lips.
Eric holds my stare for a moment longer, and his eyes harden. Marcus clears his throat and shifts forward, about to close his palm around the top of my arm. I flinch away before he can reach me and Eric notices the tension, silently taking a brief step forward. Marcus stops immediately.
"Whatever you're happy with, darling," Marcus says but I can tell by his expression he doesn't mean any of it. Turning to Eric, he nods formally. "Thank you, Eric. It was nice seeing you." It is my father's way of saying goodbye, but Eric doesn't move. He glances down at me like I'm too vulnerable, so I cross my arms over my chest.
"I'll see you at the next meeting," Marcus says, and Eric nods and walks away. As soon as he is out of earshot, I see Marcus's hand in my view. It comes to contact with my cheek and I stare down at the ground, waiting for the burning sensation to subside before following after him into the Choosing Ceremony.
