Back To You // Peter Hayes

liberosis

"It's going alright, ma'am." he replied formally, to which Jeanine smiled in a slightly sinister manner.

"Prior." her eyes lit up as she noticed Tris standing behind us, "You're Andrew Prior's daughter, aren't you? Beatrice."

"It's just Tris now." she corrected politely.

"Tris...I like that." She noticed Tris' tattoos and unexpectedly brushed her hand over them, causing Tris to jump back at her touch, "You made an impressive choice, Tris, despite your parents and your test results."

"You've seen my test result?" a flicker of panic flashed across her face,

"Of course. I'm glad you were smart enough to know your own mind. Let me know if you ever need anything." she smiled at each of us before turning away, walking into a dark room behind us.

"Well, that was weird." Christina laughed, frowning,

"What do you think is going on?" Al said,

"I bet they're hunting Divergents. That's all they talk about at Erudite these days."

"Wait, Divergents are real?" Al dumbly asked, causing all of us to chuckle at him,

"Come on, Al." I said, patting him on the back as we walked to the training room.

"Okay everyone gather around, today will be your final hand-to-hand combat session. So a word of advice: fight with everything you've got, this is your last chance to prove yourself to us and will determine your final ranking. So fight hard, and don't give up, unless you want to be seen as a coward..." Eric shouted over the crowd of transfer initiates. He looked on the board he held in his hand and read out from it, "First fight: Peter versus Tris."

What...? He's kidding right? Peter will crush her, like a bug. "It's Eric. He's just trying to get back at you for the knife thing." Christina pointed out, obviously thinking the same thing I did.

Tris turned to me, her eyes wide and she was close to tears. The fear was evident on her face. "You'll be alright. He's not even that good." I laughed it off trying to diffuse her state of panic, "Just be smart about it, you can take him out by the legs. And do me a favour, kick him in the balls at the first chance you get." I smiled. Feeling slightly better and a little more motivated, Tris walked towards the ring,

"You really think she can beat him?" Christina asked me, questioning my little pep talk,

"Fuck no Chris. She's dead as soon as she steps in that ring. I just didn't have the guts to tell her that part." I shook my head.

Looking up at the ring, I found Peter looking my way. But he quickly shifted his gaze when he realised I caught him out, he looked at Tris, who was uneasily shuffling towards him in the ring. "Alright there, Stiff? Are you about to cry? I'll take it easy on you if you cry."

Tris watched him carefully as he stepped forward ready to punch- a noticeable predictive move on his part- she hit him in the throat making him gag and stumble backwards. Chris and I jumped a little in excitement for her. But this was quickly misplaced by sympathetic expressions as Peter swung his fist around and made contact with the side of her nose, knocking her to the floor. She laid there and hesitated, what are you doing Tris??! I opened my mouth to warn her but before I could so much as muster a word, Peter kicked her in the back of the head, knocking her out instantly.

"Good Peter." Eric said, "Someone get her off the ring, next fight: Baby versus Edward." I knew it. Will and Al jumped up from where they were standing and picked Tris up carefully from the floor as her limbs flopped about like a rag doll's. A very concerned Christina followed shortly after, glancing back at me and mouthing 'good luck' before running after the boys. I was extremely unprepared for this fight, I've barely slept since I got here. Edward stepped up into the ring, throwing away his jumper and shaking the tension from his arms,

"We can still be friends after this right?" he asked, preparing himself,

"Depends on the outcome Ed." I smirked.

He made the first move, catching me off guard and using his leg instead of fists. His foot struck me square in the chest, knocking the air out of my lungs and making it hard to breathe as I pulled myself together after staggering backwards. I clenched my fists and swung out my right arm, connecting my knuckles with the side of Edward's neck. He coughed and choked, holding his throat so I took another hit right between his eyes. The sound of his nose cracking echoed throughout the room and he held it tightly where the blood poured out. Taking another chance, I kicked my leg upwards towards his chest again, hoping to knock him down but my leg fell when I felt something come into contact with my jaw, knocking me sideways, a metallic taste rising in my mouth and spilling down my chin. As I tried to wipe away the blood I was lifted off the ground. Shit, I know where this is going. I gritted my teeth and braced for impact just before my spine connected with the floor of the ring. The pain was more unbearable than the first time this happened, the blow to my back winded me and made my throat burn with the lack of oxygen, I felt like I'd never breathe again. Unfortunately my breathing came back too late- Edward was already on top of me, throwing another punch at my cheek, knocking my head to the side as I felt the skin on my face tear. I flailed my arms about while trying to grab for his neck, trying to push him off. I pushed with my legs, trying to kick high enough to hit his head but it was no use, he wouldn't budge. He raised his fist again, coming down with a larger impact, and all I saw was darkness.

"Well that was much more entertaining." Eric laughed, asking to dismiss her unconscious body before calling out the next fight. Peter ran up to her with his eyes wide and panicked as he stared down at her. Edward stepped forward and offered to help carry her to the med-bay, feeling guilty enough for what he did,

"You've done enough." Peter growled between gritted teeth and picked Baby up bridal-style, exiting the room quickly before anyone else offered to help.

He laid her down in the med-bay, carefully moving her hair out of her eyes and grabbing a towel to wipe the blood from her face. The cut on her cheek made her face look swollen and trails of blood dripped down her chin and onto her neck, Peter gently patted away the blood with a wet cloth as he spoke to her,

"I know you can't hear a word I'm saying right now. But I guess the better part of this is that you can't answer back." he chuckled, "I know you hate me right now, I suppose that's my fault so I can't exactly complain. Not that you ever liked me anyway but y'know, the concept still stands, you're more mad at me than the usual....." he stumbled through his words, finally being able to speak his mind but ironically, having no idea what was going through it. "It makes no difference to you cuz you can't hear me but what happened last week. I can't explain it, I've never felt that way towards anyone before. But ever since that argument, it almost feels like there's something missing in my life, it makes no sense, I know. Because it's us..., we hate each other." He frowned and breathed out a heavy sigh. He struggled to get out the right words but began laughing at himself, "See, look what you've done to me Baby, I can't even talk properly. Nothing makes sense anymore." his laughing died down and he buried his head in his hands, letting out a frustrated groan.

a/n Jeanine is a fucking bitch, no more motherly Jeanine. From now on, you guys can go back to hating her :)