DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DIVERGENT, THAT BELONGS TO THE VERY TALENTED VERONICA ROTH.
AN: Btw this is still Tris' POV
I haven't been up to the glass building before, The Pier as Eric had called it, but once I walked in I looked down at The Pit and Chasm far below me and smiled.
"You must enjoy heights." Eric said softly, grabbing my attention. I look up at him to find that he is gazing down at me with fascination.
"I love them. They give me a sense of freedom." I say just barely over a
whisper.
"Is that why you climbed the ferris wheel?" He mumbles raising an eyebrow.
"You knew about that?" I ask looking up at him surprised and he nods.
"I saw you." He says with a small shrug.
"Oh, well I did that to get a vantage point, but I did enjoy being up there, I felt like I could just let go and fly." I say with a shy smile. "I know, that sounds stupid." I whisper my cheeks turning pink.
"Not at all." Eric says with a smile pushing open the door to a stone room littered with graffiti. One of the walls is completely glass, looking into another similar room.
"What is this place?" I ask looking around. A table sits in one corner with two small boxes placed on it and chair are scattered around the room.
"It's The Fear Landscape Room." He states simply.
"Why are we in here?" I ask running my hand along a few of the chairs.
"I want to take you into my landscape." He says picking up the two boxes, his words causing my steps to falter.
"You want to show me your fears?" I ask softly raising an eyebrow.
"I see yours, it's only fair." He opens the box to reveal two full syringes. "Plus I want you to see them." He smiles down at me removing them from their box. "You ready?" He asks motioning to my neck.
"Only if you're sure." I say hesitantly.
"Tris, I'm sure." He chuckles slightly.
"Ok." I whisper. I tilt my head a little and he slides the needle into my skin slowly letting the liquid flow into my veins. He hands me the other box and I look up at him. "I don't know what to do." I admit and he points to a spot on his neck.
"Inject it right here." He instructs and I listen pushing the plunger. He then places the boxes on the table before grabbing my hand and leading me into the other room. "The difference between this and the simulation is that everyone is aware, not just divergents." He says and the room suddenly changes.
I instantly feel wind on my skin and brightness overtakes the room. I squint slightly and when I reopen my eyes fully I see that we are outside the city borders. A noise arises behind us and Eric whipped around tightening his grip on my hand. I hear his breathing pick up and feel his hand get clammy. What is he afraid of? Being outside the fence? Eric closes his eyes and takes deep breaths until the scene quickly changes. (Fear 1: Outside the fence.) We stand in a dark unrecognisable room. Out of nowhere Eric drops my hand and raises it to his throat gasping for air. His knees buckle from beneath him and his face tints red. I quickly move to kneel in front of him, but it's as if he's seeing right through me. I slowly reach my hand up to his face but my hand stops, lingering inches away, unable to go beyond there. He looks terrified, and there's nothing I can do about it. I feel a tear slip down my face as he lays down taking a gulp of air and holding it. (Fear 2: Suffocation.) The room turns black and I move back as the room gets gradually brighter. I hear a gasp and move to help Eric to his feet as something slams into my back shoving me into his chest. I look behind me and see a tall wall, another emerging across from me. I look down the long narrow path and see a wall on one end and another small passageway at the other end. I start walking in that direction, but Eric grabs my arm.
"It's a maze, It's no use." He says breathing sharply. He suddenly pulls me back to his chest and plants his lips on mine roughly. He presses a hand to the small of my back, the other coming to tangle into my hair. My hands move to cup his face and I stand on my toes moving my lips in sync with his. I pull away once I need air and smile up at him, but he looks right past me. (Fear 3: Being lost.) I turn to see we're in The Pit and a simulation version of myself stands there wiping her mouth and spitting.
"Why the hell would you do that?!" She hisses.
"Tris, I- I thought-" Eric stutters shocked.
"You thought what? That I would actually like you." She laughs shaking her head. "Why would I ever like you?" She steps closer to Eric. "I will never want to be with you." She hisses in a deadly tone. It hurts to see the pain that spreads over Eric's face, a look of rejection. Al appears from one of the corridors and walks up to the simulation version of myself, she wraps her arms around his neck and crashes her lips to his. This thought alone sickens me and I have to turn away. Eric clenches his fists and jaw and lets out an animalistic growl clamping his eyes shut. I notice the longer his eyes stay shut, the more relaxed his body becomes until the setting changes again. (Fear 4: Rejection.)
We now stand outside in the middle of the Factionless sector. I look at Eric and he's wearing a mix of different faction colors, Factionless clothes. I see two Dauntless guards walk up and look in Eric's direction.
"It's a shame, isn't it?" The first guard asks the other. "Max just kicked him out, no explanation, he was just instantly Factionless." He continues and Eric starts walking towards them. Without warning he yanks the gun out of the first guards hands and presses it to his temple pulling the trigger without an instant of hesitation. I let out a cry and leep forward to where his body now lies lifeless on the ground. (Fear 5: Being Factionless.) Before I could even touch him we are in The Pit once again, but this time it was completely empty. Eric sat up and looked around the room, his eyes passing over me without hesitation. He couldn't see me again, he was the only one here. Fear flashed through his eyes and he stood, walking to the center of the room. He slowly closed his eyes and mumbled to himself.
"You're not alone Eric." He mumbles, reassuring himself. "Tris is somewhere here with you." He whispered and I felt a smile creep up my face. He uses the thought of me to calm himself down. (Fear 6: Being alone.) Within the blink of an eye people flood The Pit, Four being a part of the crowd. Four makes his way in our direction and as he passed his shoulder slams into Eric's.
"Watch it." Eric hisses turning to face Four.
"And why should I listen to you?" He chuckles crossing his arms over his chest.
"Remember, Eaton, I'm still your leader here." Eric growls stepping closer to Four.
"You don't have any power over me." Four full out laughs. "You don't have power over anyone." He continues. "We don't have to listen to you and we sure as hell don't have to respect you." Four spits out shoving Eric back. Eric swings back to hit Four, but I quickly throw my arms around him. His body relaxes and he returns the gesture wrapping his arms around my waist.
"You are respected." I say pressing my head to his chest. I feel him take a deep breath and press me closer to him. (Fear 7: Loss of respect.)
A shot rings through the room and Eric slumps against me before falling completely to the ground, blood oozing out of his shirt. A gasp escapes my lips and I kneel next to him, tears threatening to spill. His eyes dart across the room bouncing from one thing to the next before they landed on me. His eyes lighten the slightest bit and he stares into my eyes letting death overtake him. My eyes let a few tears fall as he lie still for a moment before light flooded the room and he sat up with a gasp. (Fear 8: Death.) I opened my mouth to speak as he stood, but a voice cut me off.
"Shoot her Eric." Said a familiar female voice from behind me. Both Eric and I turned to see Jeanine Matthews standing with a gun in hand, behind her a simulation version of myself sits tied to a chair. Jeanine holds the gun out to Eric as he slowly approached her. He reached out, his hand trembling as he slowly wrapped his hand around the gun. He walks to stand in front of me and raises the gun as if it weighed a ton.
"Kill her!" Jeanine hisses as Eric just stands there pointing the gun at my head, staring into my eyes.
"I can't." He breaths out dropping his hand. "It's not supposed to be her." He whispers never looking from me.
"You are no family to me." Jeanine spits and grips another gun aiming it at Eric. "Shoot her or die." She yells.
"I won't kill her." He says raising his own gun to his head. Both shots rang at once and Eric fell to the ground for the fourth time. (Fear 9: Killing someone he loves.) The room slowly shifted as Eric pushed himself up from the ground. It looked as if we were in an office of sorts. Max stood behind a desk as Eric and Four stood in front of him.
"As you both know I could only pick the best person for the job." Max began and they both gave a short nod. "I'm sorry Eric you just weren't good enough, I had to choose Four." He finishes and you can see Eric's heart drop, those words killing him. He nods and turns quickly leaving the room in one swift motion. I follow him out watching as he slams his fist into the wall. He yanks his hand through his hair and sinks down to the ground. He rests his hands over his face and lets out a groan. I slowly approached him, kneeling to rest my hand on his shoulder. He quickly jumped and pulled away before his eyes landed on mine. Before I could process what was happening, he had pulled me into his lap, burying his face in the crook of my neck. I could feel his warm breath on my skin, sending a shiver through me as he snaked his arms around me caging me within his body. (Fear 10: Not being good enough.) We stayed like this, in our own world until a voice broke our quiet.
"Eric." The same sickening voice as earlier speaks. Eric looks up, unwrapping himself from me, standing up with me beside him
"Yes Jeanine?" He asks stiffly, his body visibly tensing.
"You have done all I can use you for." She states factually and turns to the man with her. "Kill him." She waves it off and turns on her heels to leave as if this was a daily routine. The man charge Eric with a rod with what looks like an electrical current running through it. Just as he is about to strike Eric I jump between them and feel a jolt of electricity flow into my body. I yelp in pain and my knees go limp beneath me. I feel a sting in my arm and the volts pulse through my body making my stomach churn and my head get cloudy. The man pulls back to strike me again only to be tackled to the ground by Eric and beaten bloody. (Fear 11: Betrayal.) The man disappears quickly and the air around us gets colder, almost. Six people appear before us and they all stare blankly at Eric. I look from face to face and see Max, Veronica, Harrison, Jeanine, and another man and woman both in Erudite blue. The woman has near identical characteristics to those Jeanine sports, whereas the man looks similar to Eric in many ways.
"You have failed us Eric." They all speak in unison, not moving a muscle.
"You are worthless just like we assumed." Jeanine spits and Eric flinches slightly.
"You have become a failure." Max says.
"You always were a failure." The man corrects. Eric backs away slightly and mumbles something under his breath.
"I knew you wouldn't succeed." Harrison shakes his head in a disapproving manner and Eric stands a little taller.
"I am not a failure." He says just above a whisper.
"What was that?" The woman hisses.
"I am not a failure." Eric states standing tall before the room goes dark. (Fear 12: Failure.)
AN:Thanks for reading yet another chapter, I know its kinda short but it was still really important and I hope you liked it. Although if it was up to me I would have made Eric have less fears, but I went off the number from the book FOUR. Can't wait till next week, please comment and vote, thank you, and until next week.