The next morning was a hard one for all of the initiates, Dauntless born and transfers alike. Annabelle made a note to never go out partying the night before a final exam ever again, let alone a sparring exam. Annabelle tiredly made her way to the fighting ring and took a spot between Izzy and Damien, both of whom looked even worse than she did.
"Good morning you two."
"Anna, please, not so loud. I have a searing headache."
"Well then you're really going to hate what Max has planned for today."
"Haha."
"Alright. Everyone listen up. In order to test all of you fairly, you'll all be facing the same opponent for your final test. Eric."
The room was immediately filled with hushed whispers and groans at the announcement of today's sparring partner. But Annabelle in particular was filled with absolute dread. Four's words from days earlier rang in her head.
'He's dangerous and vicious and sadistic... You'll understand later this week.'
Annabelle was pulled from her thoughts as Max called out the first initiate, a Dauntless born named Jericho. One by one, all initiates took their turns facing Eric, and one by one they all failed. There were a few who put up good fights, but Eric still managed to take them all down. Still, Annabelle understood what Tobias had meant. Eric was a ruthless fighter. Despite the difference in skill level between himself and the initiates, he still never let up and showed no mercy in the fight. Throwing punches until each opponent was sure to stay down. Surprisingly, for the first time in a month, Annabelle actually felt a semblance of fear. The fact that it was towards Eric only worked to increase that fear.
"Next up, Damien."
From Annabelle's side, Damien reached over and took hold of her hand to give it light squeeze which Annabelle gave back as a means of comfort before Damien took a deep breath and made his way into the fighting ring across from Eric.
"Both fighters ready?"
Damien gave a curt nod over to Max while Eric remained stoic and motionless, his eyes boring into Damien with more intensity than Annabelle had ever seen. Between Eric's comment about Damien the night before and then seeing him take Anna's hand just before the fight, Annabelle had a feeling that this sparring session would be far worse than any of the others.
"Begin."
In all of the previous fights, Eric had waited for the initiate to make the first move and seemingly played around with them for a bit before finally deciding to take each opponent down. Damien was not so lucky. Almost before Max could even get the word out, Eric was already advancing on Damien with a hard right hook which Damien just barely dodged in time, leaning down and to his left to lodge a fist of his own into Eric's side. The punch did little to throw Eric off who was already rounding on Damien again, this time landing a punch just under Damien's chin. Damien stumbled back for only a moment, but it was long enough for Eric to send a hard kick into his chest, sending him flying back onto the mat. Eric advanced again to throw a punch down onto his face only for Damien to roll to the side away from him, rising to his feet again quicker than anyone anticipated. Eric was completely fuming by now and was attacking from every possible direction, landing some hits and missing others. Damien was keeping up surprisingly well despite the harshness with which Eric was attacking him, but still, he had lasted longer than anyone else thus far. The fight continued for a few minutes longer before Eric had finally taken the upper hand again and kicked Damien entirely out of the ring, effectively ending the fight with another win.
Max wasted no time in declaring the Eric the winner before then announcing the next opponent to fight.
"Annabelle."
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."
Annabelle nodded at Tobias's words but still felt too numb to truly believe them or understand them. Tobias seemed to understand this as well as he called over Izzy and Damien and instructed them to take Annabelle back to the dorm and make sure that she rested. Largely with help from her friends, Annabelle walked her way back to the dorms and fell onto her bed with ease, never wanting to leave the comfort of her sheets again. She felt Izzy climb in next to her for extra comfort and recognized the feeling of Damien's lips placing a gentle kiss to her forehead before falling into a deep and tragic sleep.
-----
Initiates had a week free of training before starting phase two of initiation. After her fight with Eric, Annabelle had fallen asleep and not woken until lunch time the next day. Izzy and Damien told her that she placed second overall in the ranking which should have made her happy, but instead sent a pit into the depths of her stomach. Six initiates were kicked out following phase one, one of them being Freddy who they had all met on the train the day of the choosing ceremony. Despite being just over a month ago, that day felt like it was years in the past. While most initiates took advantage of the week off to explore the compound and engage in city life once again, Annabelle kept to her room, debating what she was going to do after finally admitting to herself her real feelings for Eric. After three days of sulking and doing little more than eating and sleeping, Izzy finally convinced her to go to the infirmary to visit Eric, which is how Annabelle found herself frozen in place at the infirmary's doors. With a few long and deep breaths, Annabelle finally pushed open the doors and looked across the rows of beds that filled the large open space. It took her a while to find him, but finally she found a pair of crystal blue eyes staring back at her from the far end of the room. Annabelle gave a small smile and slowly made her way over to Eric. Unsure of what to do with herself, Annabelle stood awkwardly at Eric's bedside while he looked up at her expectantly.
"I was hoping you'd eventually visit. I was starting to worry you wouldn't though."
"I know. I'm sorry. I just, uh, it took me some time to comes to terms with what I'd done. I'm really sorry Eric."
"Don't be. You were supposed to fight, and you did a hell of a job."
"No, not just about the fight. I'm sorry about the way I've been treating you all this time. Just letting my anger get in the way and never letting you explain. I... I know that you still love me and I think I'm finally ready to admit that I still love you too. I'm still hurt and confused, but I do love you."
Eric smiled softly at Annabelle's words and reached out to take one of her hands in his, pulling her arm slightly as a gesture for her to take a seat beside him on the bed. Anna did so happily, their hands remaining intertwined as she did so.
"Anna, listen. I had every intention of choosing Abnegation. Of choosing you. But the day of the choosing ceremony, I just thought about what it would be like and I knew that I couldn't do it. I wouldn't have lasted a day in Abnegation. I'm a lot of things, but selfless is not one of them. I think I only further proved that when I chose Dauntless over you that day."
Annabelle chuckled lightly at Eric's words and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, no that's true. Plus, grey really isn't your color."
"No, it's not."
Both laughed for a moment before Eric winced harshly and brought a hand up to rub at his neck. Annabelle immediately fell serious as well and leaned forward to look at the area he'd been caressing.
"It's okay. I'm okay."
At Eric's words, Annabelle pulled back slightly, her nose almost brushing his as both realized the close proximity between them. Eric looked between Annabelle's eyes and lips for a quick moment but knew that this was a decision she needed to make. He wasn't going to assume that just because they made up, she wanted to get back together. Understanding that Eric was leaving the decision up to her, Annabelle ran the options through her head for only a split second before realizing it wasn't really a choice at all. Knowing they had wasted enough time already, Annabelle closed the space between them and brought her lips to Eric's which melded perfectly between hers. The kiss was deep and harsh, the both of them kissing with all of the love and passion that had been pent up for the last year and unable to be expressed. Eric's hands moved to caress Annabelle's face while her gently wrapped around the base of his neck, careful not to exert too much pressure onto the sensitive area of his wounds. Only once the need for air became absolutely necessary did the two pull away from one another, but each tightened their hold on one another in an effort to keep the other as close as possible. Annabelle rested her forehead onto Eric's, allowing their noses to brush against one another's and allowing Eric small kisses every time he leaned forward just an inch. They both had spent the last year missing one another, but neither of them realized just how much until this very moment. How either of them had survived without the other was a complete mystery to the both of them. Now, they each felt complete. Now, they each knew for a surety exactly where they belonged.