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
"TEACHING THE Stiff the consequences," Eric snarled, his eyes dark. I shuffled to the left although when his eyes met mine again, I stared at the ground shamefully, catching a glimpse of my stained dress. I didn't want to pass out like last time, not standing between these two strangers. These two reckless, Dauntless strangers. "I'm getting the impression you're scaring the shit out of her," Four grunted, stepping closer until he was staring right into Eric's eyes. I peered at Four from behind Eric, unblinking.
"Max is with the initiates at the chasm-"
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, and I think you should finish off their tour. I'll take her the rest of the way." Eric clenched his fists to object, before pausing and turning around. His eyes locked with my eyes and I stared back at him, trying to make my eyes come across as taunting as his were. He opened his mouth to say something, interrupted as Four cut him off.
"Before she bleeds to death."
Eric shoved past me and marched down the tunnel, the way we were heading, and I wondered if he'd still meet us at the infirmary. Seconds later I brushed it off, only to my dismay - I became aware of how much I was trembling. Four rested his arm over my shoulder for support and I would've done the same if I was tall enough, but I wasn't. His presence felt safer. More secure. Almost... Familiar, but I just couldn't place it. We began walking back on ourselves, and I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Why are we going this way?" I spoke in a hushed tone, picking my fingernails - a usual habit. Four nodded his head, gazed down at me. His eyes looked as black as the midnight sky in the scarce light of the tunnel.
"I don't know where he was taking you, but it wasn't the infirmary. When I realized you weren't behind us, I knew Eric had taken you somewhere else." He shook his head with a long sigh. "I just don't trust Eric with any of the initiates." "Well, gee, thanks for coming to my rescue, Four." I smiled warmly up at him, almost too grateful. Four nodded, like he was incapable of having any feelings. They walked a bit further before Four spoke. "How'd you hurt yourself?" His voice was hushed, like he didn't want to ask but he had to.
"Like I keep telling everyone. I landed awkwardly when I jumped from the train." I grunt, my eyes cloudy. I stare up at him in curiosity, and he catches me. Tobias? I think before I erase the thought.
"You remind me of someone," I say, and Four stares ahead. He doesn't say a word until I speak again. "I'm... I'm probably being stupid-"
"You are. I don't know who you are, but I hope you find whoever you're looking for."
I swallow hard and glance down at my feet before looking back ahead again. "A-alright. Thank you."
*** UNKNOWN
"That looks... Nasty." The nurse spoke, gently taking her hand. Four was leaning against the door opposite them. "How'd you do it? A train accident?" The nurse inquired. "Y-yeah... Guess I landed awkwardly. " Venus lied, although the nurse didn't seem to catch on. "What's your name?" She asked, holding some important looking papers in her hands. "Venus." "Last name?" The nurse asked again. Venus mentally rolled her eyes. She sensed Four lean forward, hands in pockets. She sensed him moving without even looking in his direction by the shuffling his shoes made on the tiled ground. Looks like I'm making one up, Venus quickly improvised, her mind reeling. "Gould." She spoke, hesitating noticeably at the start. It was a pretty common Abnegation surname, so she had nothing to worry about. "A-alright," The nurse stuttered as Venus heard the shuffle of Four's boots again. In a rectangular mirror in front of her, she saw his reflection - staring at the ground, his eyes dull, his posture slouched - nothing like before when he had saved her. Nothing like A Dauntless. Just before the nurse led her behind the curtains, she wolf-whistled Four, with a slight smile. He looked up. "You alright there?" His reply was a pressed lip smile, and a curt nod. "You should be asking yourself that, Venus." The way he said her name was almost familiar - how his voice cracked when he said her name. Maybe it was because he reminded her so much of her brother - although Tobias's hair was not as long, his voice was not as deep, he didn't have as many muscles as Four and he didn't have black ink snaking over his shoulders. In fact, those qualities made him a stranger. And besides, he told me... He doesn't know who I am. Venus lay on the medical bed, slipping the sleeves from her dress. Luckily, she was wearing a flimsy white vest beneath it that she could pull up to avoid the nurse seeing the rest of the pain that made her Venus. The nurse stitched up the wound, pressing a cold gauge against it. The entire process was quite tedious, oohing and aahing and ouching, when the nurse touched a sore spot until she stood up and announced she was done. "Anywhere else that hurts?-" The nurse began, interrupted when Venus quickly stood up and brushed past her, gratefully touching her shoulder. "I'm all done, thank you. Don't want to waste your time, especially when I've got training to do." Venus drew the curtains and half-ran, half-walked over to Four. He opened the door, allowing Venus to walk under his arm with a wide grin. "Hey! Are you subliminally teasing me?!" Four just chuckled and led her to the dormitories. It was something subconscious about their closeness in that previous moment that Venus wasn't quite catching on, like she had once known him her whole lifetime.
