A/N: In the last chapter, Peabody and Caleb have become good friends and work buddies in Erudite. Tris and Penny have gotten along very well and have become sparring partners. Four and Sherman have been good friends, Four has even become Sherman's tutor/sparring buddy. And they got tattoos, Sherman got a dragon on his collarbone, and Penny got twin roses, one rose on each arm. This is where we left off. Enjoy!

Sherman and Four were in the middle of sparring practice.

"Just give the signal when you wanna stop, okay?" Four asked his pupil. Sherman took a fighting stance.

"Got it" Sherman said. They begin sparring, Four attacked Sherman's stomach mostly, and he grunted every time that happened. Four stopped and spoke.

"In combat, your opponent is most likely gonna be attacking your stomach, the most softest, most vulnerable part of your body, so you have to swing your arm against mine to block it" he explained. Sherman nodded, took his stance again and spoke.

"Swing arm against the others, got it. Let's give it a try" Sherman said. Four nodded and tried attacking Sherman's stomach again, but Sherman blocked it and every time he blocked it, he punched Four in the face.

"Doing pretty good. Ready for the kick?" asked Four. Sherman just nodded. Four swung his leg and tried to kick Sherman, but he dodged it with a limbo style back-flip and threw a kick at Four. Four grabbed Sherman's foot and held it upwards, causing Sherman to fall down onto the mat.

"You okay?" he asked, wondering if he wasn't going too easy on him for training.

"I'm alright, just tired though" Sherman said.

"We can take a break if you want" Four offered. Sherman nodded. Sherman looked up to see Eric standing over him.

"Tired?" he asked.

"Yeah" the redhead told him. Eric then called out to the other transfers.

"Take a break everyone! I wanna show you something!" he shouted. Eric signaled for Sherman to follow him and he did. Four then walked up to where Penny and Tris were.

"Penny, Tris" he said. Penny and Tris then stepped out of their place in line and walked up to Four.

"I know what's really going on. Cut several spaces in line until you get to Sherman, alright?" he ordered. Tris and Penny nodded and followed Four up to near where Eric and Sherman were.

After a while of walking, they arrived at a bridge that had a concrete wall blocking the other end of it and there was a large crevice below it.

"You okay?" Eric asked Sherman.

"I'm fine" Sherman said. As soon as Eric and Sherman were in the middle of the bridge, Eric knocked Sherman off and he grabbed onto the edge of the bridge.

"Are you out of your mind!?" Penny screamed.

"There's no room for weaklings in Dauntless. Take this little wimp for example" Eric told them. Sherman looked down and he began getting scared. He felt like his hands were slipping.

"Stay down there, or you're out" Eric threatened. Tris and Penny could only just stand there and watch.

"Ahh!" Sherman screamed as he let go. But another hand grabbed Sherman's wrist and pulled him up. The redhead looked up to see that it was Four. Sherman then began crying into Four's shirt.

"Shh, it's okay. You're safe now, you're safe" Four shushed in comforting tones as Sherman cried. Four wrapped his arms around Sherman in a hug and Sherman returned it.

"I was so scared. I thought I was gonna die" Sherman said in between sobs.

"You didn't, and it's over now. No one's gonna hurt you" Four assured him.

"Didn't know you had a soft spot for the weakling, Four" Eric said with crossed arms and a smug look on his face. Four gave Eric a death glare and handed Sherman to Tris.

"Take Sherman to his bed, tell him I'll be there in a few minutes" Four ordered. Tris nodded, taking Sherman into her arms and taking Sherman to his room.

"Wait for me back at the training grounds, okay?" Tris asked Penny. All she could do was nod and leave for where Tris wanted her to wait. All the other Dauntless members left except for Eric and Four.

"What was that about?" Four scolded.

"He should know that there's no room for weakness when he's in Dauntless" said Eric.

"He's only seven and a half years old, Eric. You could have scarred him for life" Four retorted. Eric then smirked and continued to speak.

"You should talk, that was you when you first showed up here. You showed no weakness at all, now you're defending someone who's scared to fall down?" asked Eric with a mean tone.

"Everyone's afraid of something... even Dauntless" and after that, Four left for the sleeping quarters. Eric just scoffed and left for the training grounds.

In the sleeping quarters, Four entered the room and saw Sherman crying into his pillow. Four sat down beside Sherman and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry" Sherman said after sniffling and wiping his eyes, which were now puffy and red from his tears.

"Sorry? For what?" Four asked as he took out a pocket tissue and handed it to Sherman and the small child used it to blow his nose.

"For showing weakness, I don't trully deserve to be in Dauntless" Sherman said scolding himself. Four then pulled Sherman closer to him and hugged him softly.

"No, don't say that. You were tired and were ready to take a break, there's nothing wrong with that" Four told him.

"But I was too scared to fall down" said Sherman.

"Everyone's afraid of something" Four told him.

"What are you afraid of?" asked Sherman. Four sighed and gave a small smile.

"Heights" he said. Four let out a soft laugh and ruffled Sherman's hair.

"Don't let what Eric said, or what he did get to you. You're still one of the bravest kids I've ever met in Dauntless" Four told him. Sherman liked that Four was pretty down to Earth with him and he was kind.

"You mean it?" Sherman asked with a smile. His eyes were becoming less red and puffy.

"Of course, I mean, look at you. You're the best shooter in the faction, you're ranked at number four, you even beat me in a bacon eating contest and I passed out before I could even finish the second plate. If that's not Dauntless, then I don't know what is" Four told him with a smile. Sherman then stopped hugging Four and placed a hand on his dragon tattoo.

"Thank you" said Sherman. Four raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"For what?" asked the taller older male.

"For being there for me... like a brother" said the redhead. Four smiled at that, he never had a brother before, but now that Sherman saw him as one, maybe he'd get one after wanting one for many years.

"Thank you" Four said before getting up.

"Take a break for the rest of the day. You've earned it, and I'll see you at dinner" Four told him. Sherman got up and went over to take a shower, but Four's voice stopped him.

"Oh, cool tattoo by the way. The dragon, I like it" Four said smiling before leaving the room and shutting the door. Sherman then stripped and turned the hot water on, taking a nice hot relaxing shower alone.

A/N: There you have it, a sneak peak to show how deep the bond between Sherman and Four really is. And it also goes to show that even the bravest of the brave, the strongest of the strong are afraid of something, everyone is, and it's nothing to be ashamed of at all. Anyways, lots more to come in the next update. Please review, thanks!