Seven Sins- Divergent/Eric fanfic Book1-2 (complete)

4~ Bruises

My face was mere inches from falling into my breakfast by the time Eli came and sat next to me, he laughed and nudged my side to wake me up "morning, sunshine" his grin was far too happy for that early in the morning "not an early riser?"

"No it's not that" I groaned as I straightened up "we always got up early in Candor, but last night..." I sighed as I rubbed my shoulder.

"Ah, I see, you're aching in so many places it was impossible to get comfortable. Yup, I've seen these symptoms before"

I chuckled half heartedly, he was making light of my pain "Adam gave me a massage this morning but I don't think it helped"

"You'll have fun today then"

"Ooh, why?" Adam had suddenly slipped in next to me, his eyes eagerly set on Eli.

Eli was unsure for a moment, but seemed to get the message from me that Adam was cool "er, you'll probably be fighting today"

"We were fighting yesterday"

"No that was sparring, today you'll be in the ring, and it goes towards your ranking" I could tell he was trying to be helpful, but I wasn't sure how this foreknowledge would help me, I didn't have any time to prepare, and I'd only be worrying between then and the fight.

*

"First jumper!" Eric announced, we had just been stretching and sparring up until then, the only ones who knew what was coming were Adam and I "in the ring" Z stopped sparring with Alyssa and stepped towards the ring that Eric and Four were stood by, she hadn't been the first jumper of all the initiates, only the transfers, a Dauntless-born girl had actually jumped first "last jumper. In the ring" well, shit.

I approached the ring a little more timidly than I would have liked. Z was smaller than me, but she had a lot more muscle than I did, she obviously hadn't spent her last few months in Candor studying law. I watched her as she stepped into the raised ring, her dark hair had been put up into tiny braids, I thought about Eric's criticism of my hair, and realised hers was about the same length, I could probably grab it if I ever got desperate.

We stood opposite each other in the ring, she wasn't much smaller than me, only perhaps by an inch or two. I turned to the instructors "rules?"

"You fight until one of you concedes, this also goes towards your ranking so don't go easy on each other" Four said.

I expected to be told that we couldn't fight dirty, but apparently we were in it to win, no rules applied. Z and I got into stance, her brown eyes were focused sternly on mine, she was trying to use intimidation, but against the likes of Four and Eric, she didn't scare me. I instead studied her movements, every step taken was like a move on a chess board, they were each considered and had purpose.

She went first, her fist came flying towards my face but I stepped out of the way just in time, while she was still pulling her arm back I went for her stomach, she stepped but not in time, I got her side. As I was congratulating myself on making the first hit, her arm swung out of nowhere and hit my throat like a bat, I fell backwards to the floor and gasped for air, arching my back as though that would help.

While I was gagging on air she jumped on top of me and started aiming punches at my face, my arms flew up to protect myself while she punched quick and wild, I gave her a minute to wear herself out, waiting until her punches slowed, and once I saw my opportunity I aimed as hard as I could for her side. She groaned loudly and stopped punching, I jumped out from under her and ran behind her to grab her hair. It was a low move, I know, but I wanted to prove myself.

I grabbed as many braids as I could in my fist and pulled her head backwards while pushing her back forwards with my foot, she let out a crude yell and clenched her teeth together, her hands reached up to scratch at my wrists, but I still wouldn't let go.

My foot kept pushing at her back as I waited for her to yield, there was nothing she could do, but it was clear she wouldn't give up "alright, enough" Four yelled.

"No!" Z screamed in a shrill voice. She kept trying to get up but every time she did I'd either pull her back by her hair or push down on her back.

"Yes, Prue won. Out of the ring"

"I don't know, Four, maybe they can go for a little longer" I kept my grip on Z's hair while Eric and Four angrily debated whether we could stop, Eric argued that no one had tapped out, Four counter argued that Z had had enough. Their rivalry was clear, they were only arguing for the sake of out doing the other "need I remind you, Four, I outrank you-"

"Don't mind us, guys. We can wait" I said.

Both instructors looked around at me like I had two heads, I wasn't sure where the sudden surge of sass was coming from, maybe I was too filled with adrenaline, or maybe I did have some Candor in me after all. Neither of them said anything, so I rolled my eyes and let go of Z's hair, she fell onto her stomach and started to rub her sore scalp "right, Prue wins" Four announced "step out of the ring" I helped Z up and stepped down with her "Darlene, Thackeray, you're up next"

I wasn't surprised that they wanted to pit the only couple here against each other, it would teach them that they're out for themselves, and not to rely on the other one. As we watched them fight Z approached me, while she was still rubbing her scalp I was rubbing my scratched wrists, she'd actually managed to draw blood "hey, you fight good"

"Thanks"

"But uh. That'll never happen again. You won out of shear luck"

She strutted away before I could retort, though she was right. Adam jumped to my side and leant down to my ear "you figured it out?" I looked at him and narrowed my eyebrows "she's headstrong, she was too busy swinging punches she didn't realise that she'd eventually get tired"

I smiled at him "are you sure you're not Erudite? Smarty pants"

"Nah" he nudged my arm "I'm Dauntless, me"

I was quite glad that I had seemed to make a friend, I was worried that I'd have to go through initiation alone, which wouldn't have been too bad, but it was still nice to have someone to talk to while training. I had Eli outside of training, he seemed nice enough, he was a lot like Adam in that he was optimistic, always smiling. He was very attractive too, and I got the sense he was interested in more than friendship, I hoped I was wrong, as lovely as Eli was I didn't want a relationship, I didn't want to be so scared to lose someone that I'd falter and rank bottom.

Eric would applaud me for wanting to go at it alone, he had been telling Darlene and Thackeray all day that they should probably break up now, because there was no room for sentiment in Dauntless.