Broken, But Brave

Chapter 6: Fear and Love

Eric visibly stiffened as Annabelle approached the fighting ring and chalked up her hands and feet before moving into the ring boundaries. The pair stared at one another from across the mat, and Annabelle had never been more frustrated in her life at not being able to read Eric's expressions. 

"Both fighters ready?"

Hesitantly, Annabelle nod and Eric gave an almost imperceptible nod himself, telling Annabelle that he probably was not ready at all. 

"Begin." 

Despite Max saying the word, neither fighter moved to attack first. Sensing Max's irritation, Annabelle took a couple of steps forward to which Eric still made no move, remaining firmly in his place at the far end of the mat. Annabelle continued to take cautious steps forward to which Eric remained completely still, and it was then that Annabelle realized what he was doing, and it infuriated her like no other. No longer feeling the need to hesitate, Annabelle took two large strides forward and allowed her right fist to connect with Eric's jaw. The hit did little to move Eric, but it still left its mark well enough. Now face to face with her opponent, Annabelle got close enough to his face that only he could hear when she spoke. 

"Don't you dare let me fucking win. Fight me like all of the others." 

Slowly, Eric looked up, stretching his jaw out as it adjusted from the punch. 

"I'm not going to hit you. I promised I would never hit you. Not like he did." 

"Eric, this is my final test. You have to fight me." 

"I can't. I'm sorry." 

Eric's words caused Annabelle to feel a swell of various emotions all at once. She was angry and sad and touched and hurt. She understood where Eric was coming from, but he was hurting her now socially by refusing to hurt her physically. She couldn't let his emotions get in the way of her earning her place in Dauntless. But fine. If he wasn't going to fight, it didn't mean that she wasn't. Annabelle turned her back to Eric on order to collect herself for a moment before swinging her arm back to backhand Eric across the face, the force strong enough to send the leader to his knees. Annabelle took the opportunity to advance again while Eric cradled his jaw, sending her knee flying up under his chin and sending him flying back onto the mat. With no hesitation, Annabelle straddled Eric's body and allowed punch after punch to fall onto his face until she finally started to draw blood. Understanding that he wouldn't be getting up again, Annabelle stood up above Eric and looked down at him in fear, but this time, not fear of him, but fear of herself. He looked familiar. Familiar because he looked exactly how Tobias used to after Marcus finished one of his beatings. 

"Anna. Annabelle. Anna!" 

Realizing that she was being physically shaken by another figure, Annabelle removed her eyes from Eric and looked up to find Tobias looking worriedly into her eyes. 

"Hey. You're okay. You're okay, he's going to be fine." 

It wasn't until Tobias started brushing away at Anna's cheeks that she realized she had started crying. Suddenly the full impact of what she had done hit her, as did all of her memories and feelings she'd ever felt for Eric. She couldn't deny it any longer. She was angry at him for lying to her. For making promises that he didn't follow through on. But none of that changed the fact that she loved him as much now as she did two years ago. Suddenly the tears began to flow freely as Annabelle looked over Tobias's shoulder to see a couple of the Dauntless born initiates carrying Eric off to the infirmary. 

"I didn't hurt him too bad, did I? He's going to be okay, right? He's going to be okay?" 

"Yeah. Yeah, Anna, he's going to be just fine. You did some damage, but nothing he can't handle. Trust me, he's had much worse. You did nothing wrong, okay? You did nothing wrong."