♘ Be Brave ♘

LIV

The next day, Zeke barges in without warning and practically drags me off my bed. "What the heck, man?" My wounds still ache, and I feel a headache coming on. "Shut up and be Dauntless for once. Matthew said to take you to the chasm and that's what I'm doing." He pulls my arm, and I wince.

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." Sighing, I hobble out of the room. Zeke is decent enough to let me lean on him for support, but I'm still not happy with him at the moment. We slowly make our way to the chasm, where every single Dauntless member is waiting. Cassandra squeezes my hand as I walk past her, and she looks scared.

Confused, I try to pick up the pace. Matt is in the middle of the crowd, but his voice rings out loud and clear as soon as he sees me. He has his arm on Eric's shoulder, and the jerk is all smiles. "Ah, our guest of honor." Matt nods, and motions for me to join him beside the railing. "Now. I have a question for our most astute initiates."

He beams at Eric, but something isn't right. I can feel it. "As a former Erudite, I'm sure you know each of the faction manifestos, correct?" Eric shrugs. "Well... kind of. So what?" Matt leans back as far as the railing will allow, and slaps him on the back. "Would you be so kind as to tell us what the Dauntless manifesto says?"

He raises an eyebrow, and I just know that something bad is about to happen. "Okay... Um... We believe that cowardice is to blame for the world's injustices. We believe that peace is hard-won, that sometimes it is necessary to fight for peace. But more than that,we believe that justice is more important than peace...."

Just then, Matt grabs Eric by his shirt collar and pushes him off the edge of the chasm, leaving him hanging off of it. He would no doubt fall to his death. Everyone around us gasps, but I just watch, emotionless. I should feel glad. I should... but I don't. Matt sneers, and spits out the next few words of the manifesto.

"We do not believe that learning to master violence encourages unnecessary violence." Matt beckons me forward, and I stand beside him. "I will leave you hanging here for five minutes, unless you apologize to Matthew and he chooses to forgive you for your cowardice." Eric looks up at him, completely at a loss for words.

"Well? It's up to you, son." I swallow. As much as I'd like to see Eric end up in a body bag, I don't want to be held responsible for his death. "Apologize." Eric rolls his eyes, arrogant as ever despite being moments away from dying. Matthew glares at him, and the taunting grin on his face disappears.

"I'm sorry, Matthew. It was wrong of me to attack you. I will never do it again." I feel the eyes of every Dauntless member on me, especially Cassandra's. I look back over my shoulder, and Cassandra shakes her head. Sighing, I relent. "I forgive you."

Is it my imagination, or does Matthew look disappointed? "Fine." He leans down and gives Eric a hand, but lets go as soon as Eric gets back over the chasm, and turns to the others.

"Remember the most important part of what we believe in -- the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. Such acts of cowardice will not be condoned. Is that understood?" He looks at each of us in turn. "Good. You should get back to resting, Matt. Don't want you fainting or anything..."

He nods at Zeke. "Help him, will you?" Cassandra walks over to me. "I'll do it." Matt smirks. "Fine. I expect you back in training tomorrow, pansycake." He turns and jogs away without another word.