Becoming Determinant - Tobias' Story

Divergent Chapter 9 - Fighting

A/N: Thank you to those who have reviewed the story so far. I truly appreciate your support! Thank you also to my wonderful beta reader, Rosalie, who always catches my mistakes and gaps!

"Divergent" Chapter 9 - Fighting

Eric shows up as I finish writing pairs of names on the board for today's fights.

"Sparing the Stiff?" he asks with a smirk, clearly noticing that Tris won't be fighting today. I'm careful not to react visibly.

"It's traditional to go in size order when there's an odd number of initiates," I say calmly. "The smallest sits out the first day, the second smallest the next, and so on." I look at him like I'm confused he doesn't know this. "But if you want to break tradition, come up with a different order, and I'll rearrange the pairs."

He watches me for a moment, undoubtedly looking for a sign that I'm making this up and that Tris means something to me, but I stay expressionless, and eventually he crosses his arms and turns away. Tradition is a funny thing in Dauntless – people don't mess with it lightly.

It's just as well, since I don't know what to expect in today's fights. They were tough enough with Amar running them. With Eric here, things are likely to be brutal, and I don't want Tris suffering permanent injury because of him.

No, I correct myself firmly, I don't want that for any of the initiates. I have to stop thinking of her differently.

We wait in silence as they trickle in, arriving in the same groups as yesterday, though in a slightly different order. Tris and her friends are earlier today, and I stare fixedly at the center of the room to keep myself from looking at her for too long. She's wearing somewhat tighter clothes than yesterday, and no matter how much I tell myself it doesn't matter, the sight makes my heart beat a little faster.

Peter and his friends arrive just in time, and I begin as the door closes behind them.

"Since there are an odd number of you, one of you won't be fighting today," I announce, glancing at Tris as I step away from the board so everyone can see the pairs I designated. She looks relieved.

I motion Will and Al – the first pair – into the ring while the others break into their own conversations. The two fighters get into reasonable stances and face each other, moving around warily. Neither attacks. That's typical for the first fight, particularly between friends.

It takes a long time for one of them to strike, but finally Al punches Will in the jaw. Huh. I expected it to go the other way, with the Erudite figuring out he needed to act first.

Will stumbles to the side, looking a bit dazed by the blow, but he successfully blocks Al's next punch, so apparently the damage wasn't too bad. And he counters well, hooking a leg behind Al's and yanking so the larger initiate falls heavily to the floor. Not bad.

But he makes a mistake by giving Al time to get back on his feet. That will probably cost him the match. I fold my arms over my chest, watching as they resume circling each other. At this rate, the fight will take hours.

Eric obviously reaches the same conclusion, because he checks his watch and then yells, "Do you think this is a leisure activity? Should we break for nap-time? Fight each other!"

Al straightens, foolishly dropping his hands as he says, "But is it scored or something? When does the fight end?" Shit. He just had to ask that while Eric was here.

Eric's voice is deadly as he answers, "It ends when one of you is unable to continue."

I know it's stupid to interfere, but I do it anyway. I have to at least try, for the initiates' sake.