Yes, I know it has been like 3 years but I'm back. Apologies for the prolonged break.

Enjoy

They finally entered the training room. Marlene was right; it truly was abandoned. The climbing frame that leant on a musky wall was singed and the floor itself was covered in soot. A small metal bar was propped up opposite the door, probably for some sort of weight lifting. But what Tris' eyes immediately set upon was the terrifying circle of dauntless initiates at the center of the room. All eyes were on her and Christine as they cautiously walked towards them; a few whistled, some shuffled nervously.

"Look who decided to show up. Were you having a few doubts, girls?", a large guy said with his hoarse voice. Tris had never seen him before and therefore he must have been an older dauntless member. A true dauntless member. She glanced at him apologetically and sat down next to Lynn with Christine by her side, who hadn't said a word since they'd entered.

Tris quickly looked around the circle. It seemed they were all tall, intimidating initiates with piercing eyes, none of which would give her the "benefit of the doubt" if she decided to back out of a dare. This made her nervous enough to gulp down her very shallow breaths and she attempted a clenched smile as her tiny legs crossed over one another. Everyone was having their own conversations, bubbly laughter filling the ominous room. It was unfortunate that Tris was sat next to Lynn, who decided to not give her any type of eye contact.

She then remembered Peter.

Scanning around, she finally saw him sitting with Al and Edward. He was in the midst of laughter when he looked up and straight at her. He was glowing and smiled before mouthing "help" to her. She laughed and shook her head, trying to hide the inevitable blush that spread onto her face. No. She was flushed anyway, that's all.

"Alright, alright. Let's begin. Nobody can leave this room until the game finishes so if you want to leave, do it now." The large guy grinned sheepishly but there was something malicious about the gleam in his eye, suggesting this game would bring out a sinister side to the bouncy circle of "newbies". Nevertheless, Tris was not prepared to leave and humiliate herself as a result, despite her nerves chewing at her insides compulsively. There was something about the room and about the atmosphere that frightened her enough to scuffle a little closer to a smiling Christina.

Everybody became silent and looked at large guy in an agitated way, wondering what would happen next. He stood up, walked towards the filthy climbing frame and knelt down, hauling out a large knife. It was silvery-brass colored with a wooden handle and pointy ridge. As it gleamed in the moonlight that cascaded from the outside window, all the initiates stared at its blade in fear but excitement. Both of Tris' fists clenched, her nails digging into the sides of her palms.

"We will be using this to spin instead of a bottle. You know why?", he asked, gripping it in his hands like a relic. The initiates that dared shook their heads. Tris peeked a glance at Peter, who seemed calm with the situation but, yet his posture remained static.

"Because this is dauntless. And here, we play dangerously."

"Oh crap, Christina? Did you hear that? He said danger", Tris whispered at her, although she seemed in a trance, her eyes still fixated on large guy. She finally turned towards Tris as he sat back down in the circle and giggled.

"Tris, you worry too much."

Large guy positioned the knife in the middle of the circle and began to spin it. The sharp point rotated for what seemed like forever before landing on Will. He gasped and looked over at Christina in dismay. She gave him a fortified thumbs up and grinned in reassurance but Tris could feel her back tense up in perhaps concern or even jealousy. Large guy spun the knife once more and it stopped promptly after a few seconds, pointing directly at Marlene. She laughed jokily and crawled over to Will, giving him a quick peck on the lips before returning to her place. She then mouthed an over-dramatized "sorry" at Lynn, whose eyes had dilated. She seemed genuinely upset, which finally allowed Tris to piece together why she had been so rude; she liked Marlene.

Whilst Marlene had been chirpy towards her, Lynn had remained cold and unresponsive out of jealousy. Tris felt bad. She had not meant to make Lynn jealous in any way and began to plan out a large apology speech she would say to her at the sleepover afterwards, recounting the strings of sentences in her head over and over. "I didn't mean to act forward. I'm awfully sorry. I hope we can be friends." She started nodding to herself in assurance that by the end of the night, Lynn and she would be ok.

And that's when it happened.

"Ok, tiny girl. You're up." Large guy proceeded to spinning the knife again before Tris could process what had just happened. The knife had pointed at her. Did she have to kiss someone? Could she not do a forfeit? She had never kissed anyone before and the thought of doing it, even for two seconds, caused butterflies to flip inside her stomach. To make it even worse, the knife began to slow down, rotating sluggishly before landing on someone. And that someone had to be Peter.

She looked terrified. No, not terrified: mortified. Her beautiful green eyes locked onto mine in fear and she sat in her place like a statue. Well, Stiff, I guess I'm coming to you. I creeped up towards her, not once losing her sight. She was expressionless, and it worried me. Why are you so hard to read, Stiff?

Tris was scared. As Peter leant in towards her, she found she couldn't close her eyes. His hand slid around her neck gingerly as he crouched down. She began to shake, and he used his other hand to touch her arm, smiling mockingly, but she knew it was all a show. He was focused on upholding his reputation to the other initiates, the façade that Tris could see past from the gentleness in his eyes. And that's why she kissed him. Their lips grazed over each other at first, and then Peter pressed down onto hers. At that point, she forgot about the other dauntless in the other room. For a second only, it was just her and Peter sitting in this abandoned training room, with his arms around her body. The clapping and teasing in the background snapped both of them back into reality and Tris hastily pulled away. Her cheeks were flushed, and her cheekbones were shining as she tugged her arm away from his. Peter grinned at the rest of the circle and proceeded to mock her as usual. But this time, Tris didn't mind because she had caught a glimpse of the real Peter.

"What on earth is going on here?", a familiar voice yelled from the entrance of the room, causing the crowd to snap their heads around in unison. Eric's muscly figure blocked the small amount of light that previously swept into the room and his murky silhouette masked the circle of dauntless members. Large guy didn't feel as large anymore, quickly collecting his precious knife and digging it into his right sock in alarm. Eric walked further into the room and leant on the bar, his condescendence causing Christina to swallow loudly beside Tris. Nobody spoke.

"Well I guess if nobody tells me then I guess I'm going to have to make one of you pay for this inconvenience. Any willing volunteers?" His eyes were gleaming and beady, like a hawk searching for his next prey amongst his nest of newly found victims. He finally focused his eyes onto Tris and she knew it would be her instantly. Sighing, she looked down at the floor and at Peter. Peter looked back at her gravely.

"Tris, come with me." And that was it. The entire truth or dare sabotaged, along with the sleepover at which she was hoping to make amends with Lynn. Why couldn't have Eric found they were here before she and Peter kissed? It was avoidable. Inhaling sharply, she got up without looking at anyone and sauntered towards her trainer. He took hold of her wrist in a ruthless manner, his hands wrapping around its small circumference, and dragged her out of the room and through the corridor. She refrained from making any noises before they had taken a turn into a different hallway, but he began to shout before she could.

"What is your problem, Tris? You could've gotten killed! How could you be stupid and vulnerable?" His voice shook as he spoke, and he turned to face her. His eyes were golden as if fire had erupted inside of each pupil.

"It's just a game, Eric. It's just a game!" She was confused as to why he was acting overprotective and strange towards her. It was unlike Eric to be genuinely worried. During training, he had always seemed so solid in emotion, as if nothing could pierce his hard glare and solid demeanor. It seemed as though she was seeing a different side to many people today and it overwhelmed her. Both his arms grabbed onto her shoulders and they stopped walking.

"No, it is not just a game. It starts off like that to convince everyone it's just meaningless fun and gossip. And then when everyone gains trust in one another, that's when the real fun begins. There's stabbing and rape, and it's usually the ones with the highest rankings that get hurt the most. Trust me, Tris, I know it all too well". His breaths were short and panicky. Tris gasped. She knew there was something off about the entire thing from the moment she entered the room. And while she was out here, the game was most likely continuing without her.

The ones with the highest rankings get hurt first. Her eyes snapped widely open.

Peter.

I hope you enjoyed this! Please let me know if you have any ideas as to what should happen next.

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Veronica Roth