Author's Note:

Okay, so this is going to be a rather different story. But bare with me; I promise it will be worth it. Also, there is no Tris, no war, and no Divergent "witch hunt". Enjoy the spoken dialogue on Eric's part, because after this chapter, he won't be speaking for quite a while. Although, he will have thoughts; this is going to be a third person POV, so any character's thoughts, will be in italic. Also, Eric and Four are 16 for the Prologue, but as of Chapter One, they will be 19, and I'll introduce a few 16-year-old OCs. I'm very excited about this story, and I've put a lot of thought into it. I greatly appreciate faves/follows/reviews, especially reviews:) Let me know what you think.

Two years and eleven months ago...

Eric had changed drastically in the one month since he'd arrived at the Dauntless compound. The rigorous first stage of initiation being purely physical, he had lost any traces of previously left over baby fat, and had gained bulk in the form of muscle and brawn. He learned fairly quickly that he had a competitive streak to be rivaled. Eric now ranked in first, and this was the last day of stage one.

Tobias had changed as well, physically, and psychologically. He had learned in his short time, that while he wasn't fond of striking the other initiates, he had an impressive level of pain tolerance, and was therefore able to tire out his opponents in the ring.

"Ready to go down, Stiff?" Eric taunted the former Abnegation boy, as they circled each other in the ring, prowling like a lion after its prey. This was the fight that the other initiates had been waiting for; this would be a close call.

Tobias remained silent, even with the relentless taunting and jeering from Eric, and the former Erudite's lackeys. He kept his arms up in guard, protecting his face, and ready to block when attacked.

Eric lunged out at him, jabbing his right fist towards Tobias' throat, but the brown-haired boy quickly dodged the strike, ducking down, and sweeping his legs out in an attempt to knock the blonde down to the mat. Eric jumped over his legs, drawing his right arm up, and feigning an attack to Tobias' ribcage with a jab, before landing a harsh blow to the left side of the brown-haired boy's face with a cross offense.

The former Abnegation boy stumbled back a bit, before taking his stance again. The two initiates danced around the ring for a moment, each sizing the other up in an attempt to make a knowledgeable attack.

Eric lunged forward, right arm pulled out to the side to throw a hook to Tobias' stomach, but the former Abnegation quickly stepped back, as Eric's fist sliced through the air. Tobias countered with a spinning back fist, that landed heavily on Eric's chest, sending him to the ground on his back.

Tobias took advantage of the opportunity to attempt to take the mount, but Eric took the guard, trapping the brown-haired boy with his legs wrapped around his waist, using the position on his back to his advantage. Eric managed to get a jab to Tobias throat, distracting the smaller boy, and momentarily stealing his breath. The former Erudite slid down Tobias body, gaining side control, as he locked his legs over Tobias' hips, and used his forearms to restrain his head, as he lay perpendiculary across his opponent.

"Aw, come on, Stiff, fight back!" Eric snarled, panting heavily, as Tobias desperately tried to free himself from the locked position.

Eric used his left forearm to press into Tobias' throat, giving him free use of his right arm to pull himself up on top of the former Abnegation, to take the mount. Eric drove his hips forward to maintain the pressure, to prevent Tobias from using his legs to push off the mat, and used his feet to put in the hooks under the brown-haired boy's knees.

"Damn, Stiff, you suck at this," Eric grins down at his opponent before smirking, wickedly, and unleashing a full out ground-and-pound, in a flurry of punches, and elbows. Tobias stills beneath him, and Eric waits for Amar to make the call, before ceasing the blows to the smaller boy. "He's out!" Eric had won his final fight, thus securing his first rank, for now.

"Awe, poor Toby!" Eric jeered, as Tobias' consciousness slowly returned to him. "You gonna cry? Do you need a hug?" Eric and his friends laughed, as he continued to mock the brown-haired boy by holding his arms out.

Tobias refused to let them see the effect that their words had on him, however, and fixed them with a blank stare, instead, blinking slowly.

Eric laughed harder at the expression, and Tobias flinched at the cold sound. "Look, I knocked him stupid! He's fucking retarded!"

Eric turned back to his friends, having had enough poking fun at the Stiff, for now.

Two weeks later...

Tobias awoke from the simulation, barely breaking a sweat. He had been practicing every spare moment he had, to overcome his four fears. Now he had done it, and he had done it in less than six minutes. He grinned as Eric entered the fear landscape room; Eric had nine fears. Tobias didn't think the prick could finish in less than 20 minutes.

"Happy about something, Stiff?" Eric snarled, as he purposely slammed his shoulder into Tobias as he walked past him.

The former Erudite boy braced himself as he faced his first fear; the needle that injected the serum into his skin. Eric wasn't afraid of needles, persay, but he carried a strong dislike of serums, and medicine, in general.

His second fear, was the fear of failure.

"Three hours! Ha!" Eric bowed his head, ashamed that it had taken so long to complete his final test, as Amar laughed at him, along with the rest of the initiates.

"Can't you do anything right?" Lauryn fixed her gaze with an incredulous expression, as she crossed her arms over her chest, and shook her head.

"Yeah, Eric," Tobias jeered, from behind him. "Can't you do anything right?"

'Come on, Eric, breathe,' the former Erudite, chanted, like a mantra, as his heart rate gradually slowed to a normal pace.

His third fear; spiders.

Eric held his breath, and stood very still, as the avacado-sized arachnids scittered over his feet. Some of the creepy insects began to crawl up the side of his pants, and Eric had a difficult time remaining still as the giant spiders crawled up his body, nearing his face. He closed his eyes, and counted to three, and the spiders were gone.

Eric's fourth and fifth fears were death, and the dark.

Cool metal pushed against his temple, briefly, before the trigger was pulled. The shot had ended his life, and plunged him into darkness.

Eric could hear the whispers all around him, coming from every direction at once. He dropped to his knees, and attempted to crawl, searching for a way out through the pitch black, as he forced his breathing to even out.

Eric's sixth fear, was a fear of falling; not so very different from Tobias' fear of heights.

The top-ranked initiate stood atop a tall building, one that towered, even past the cloud cover over the city. He slipped, and lost his footing, and fell backwards over the roof, the ground approaching at an alarming rate. "I won't die. If I just willingly let myself hit the ground, this will end," Eric told himself, forcing his body to relax, and not tense up, as he crashed into the pavement below.

His seventh fear, was the fear of being bound.

"What the hell?" Eric exclaimed, looking down at his tied wrists and ankles. He frantically began pulling against the bindings, but it only increased the tight hold of the cords. Eric immediately stopped his struggle, and closed his eyes.

A pack of large, vicious Boerboels tearing the flesh from his body, piece by piece, was his eighth fear.

"Ah, shit!" Eric shouted, as he continued to sprint across the large, grassy field, the blood thirsty dogs gaining ground on him. "Fuck!"

One of the large beasts grabbed onto the back of his right ankle, shaking it's head viciously, causing Eric to fall, as the attacking dog ripped at his flesh. The other ferocious animals descended on him quickly, chomping onto his shoulder, neck, and arms.

Eric continued to fight against the pack of wild animals, covering his head as best as he could, attempting to calm himself, while he bled out.

Being burried alive and suffocating, was his ninth, and final, fear.

The former Erudite opened his eyes to darkness, and the smell of earth. He blinked rapidly, willing the darkness to recede, but to no avail.

"Hello?" he cried out, as he felt out his surroundings with his hands; a simple, pine box. "Somebody get me out of here!" Eric began to kick against the box with both of his feet, eventually busting through the wood, only for large amounts of black dirt to rain down on top of him.

He pushed through the surface, above ground at last. He pulled himself out of what was supposed to be his grave, and he sat gasping for air, on the ground.

He awoke from the simulation, trembling, sweat running down his neck, and he fought rigorously against the violent wave of nausea that threatened to cause him to lose his breakfast.

It had taken him thirteen minutes to complete his simulation.

Amar, his trainer, approached him to remove the electrode from his temple.

"That's some pretty terrifying fears you've got there, Eric. Congratulations, you're officially a member of Dauntless."

Later that afternoon...

"Initiates! Stand!"

Eric hurried to comply, along with the rest of the initiates, as Max's loud voice boomed through the Pit. The dark-skinned man scanned the faces of each, and every, one of the pack.

"You have all shown your might, and your courage, and we welcome you, to Dauntless!"

The Pit exploded into cheers, and roars of excitement, the Dauntless jostling the newest members, good-naturedly. Max raised his hand, signaling for quiet.

"We believe that cowardice is to blame for the world's injustices. We believe that peace is hard-won, that sometimes it is necessary to fight for peace," Max pauses, as he makes eye contact with each of the new members, his gaze locking with Tobias' honey-brown orbs.

"We believe that justice is more important than peace. We believe in freedom from fear, in denying fear the power to influence our decisions. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. We believe in acknowledging fear and the extent to which it rules us. We believe in facing that fear no matter what the cost to our comfort, our happiness, or even our sanity."

The dark-skinned leader shifts his gaze to the rest of the initiates, as a whole; the sincerity with which he believed in these words was evident in his baratone voice.

"We believe in shouting for those who can only whisper, in defending those who cannot defend themselves. We believe, not just in bold words, but in bold deeds to match them. We believe that pain and death are better than cowardice and inaction, because we believe in action. We do not believe in living comfortable lives. We do not believe that silence is useful."

The leader continues to raise his voice, as cheering and shouts of agreement begin to resound through the Pit at his words.

"We do not believe in good manners! We do not believe in empty heads, empty mouths, or empty hands! We do not believe that learning to master violence encourages unnecessary violence! We do not believe that we should be allowed to stand idly by! And we most certainly do not believe that any other virture is more important than bravery!"

Max paused briefly, letting the excitement die down to a low rumble.

"We expect you to be fearless; undaunted, and brave. Courageously resolute, especially in the face of danger or difficulty; not discouraged. New members of Dauntless... do us proud!" Max takes his exit, as the Pit erupts with cheering, and shouting, once more.

Amar, the transfer instructor, and Ellie, the Dauntless-born instructor climb onto a table in the middle of the Pit. The light shining through the windows above, causing a shine to glint off of their hair, while at the same time, the protruding cement blocks cause shadows to fall over multiple areas of their bodies, giving them a dark, and menacing appearance.

Eric shifts back and forth, uncomfortably, awaiting the final ranking. "Come on, come on, come on..." he urges, in anticipation. Tobias eyes him, with his arms folded, looking stoically calm. When the rankings are finally revealed, all that matters to Tobias is that he made it; he is Dauntless.

Eric ranked first, and Tobias came in second; that's all that mattered to Eric. The former Erudite had earned quite a reputation of brutality, and perfection. He ranked first; that was all that mattered.

One year later...

"Eric!" The blonde leader whipped around where he stood, scanning the smoke-filled street. "Eric, help me!" Eric snapped his head up, to see Lauryn hanging from rotting scaffolding, three stories above the ground, attached to the side of the burning building. Eric dashed to the side wall, directly under Lauryn, dodging the bullets pelted at them by the rioting Factionless rebels.

"Fuck! I'm coming Lauryn, hold on!" Eric cursed under his breath as an explosion nearly knocked him off his feet. He lithely began to climb up the side of the building, ignoring the searing heat from the flames inside whenever he passed a window.

"Eric! What the hell are you doing, idiot?! It's too late! You'll never make it!" Four shouted from below, releasing a wave of bullets, returning fire against the Factionless as he took cover behind the door of an old car that had been abandoned before the war.

"Hang on, Lauryn! I'm almost there!" Eric hollers up to her, clinging to a windowsill as another explosion shakes the building, pieces of the burning scaffolding falling to the ground below, and throwing burning embers raining down on Eric. Lauryn screams as the metal bar she hangs from drops lower, supported only by three cracked, and rotting pieces of wood.

The former Erudite brushes the hot coals off quickly, resuming his ascent to scale the side of the building. "Hold on, I got you!" Eric pushes off the wall with his left leg, throwing his body to the windowsill, just above where Lauryn struggles to keep her grip on the hot, metal bar.

"Eric! I can't hang on much longer, it's burning me!" she screams in terror, clinging desperately to the piece of scrap metal for as long as she can.

"Dauntless don't give up, Lauryn! Don't you fucking dare let go!" Eric shouts at her, gracefully hanging his body backwards from the windowsill by hooking his booted feet on the inside. He reaches his arms out to her, his fingertips mere inches away from being able to touch the bar that Lauryn so desperately clings to.

"Take my hands, Lauryn! Now!" the Dauntless leader orders, and Lauryn takes a deep, steadying breath to prepare herself for what she will have to do. She calmly counts to three in her head, before throwing herself up just as the scaffolding collapses completely.

Eric grabs her hands in the nick of time, pulling them both up using only his leg muscles, and pulling Lauryn in through the window.

The building is in flames, and the weak structure begins to sway, and creak from the damage.

"Go, go, go!" Eric screams, shoving the young instructor towards the stairs, following right at her heels. "Stop!" The blonde-haired leader grabs Lauryn by the collar, just as a large portion of roof collapses in their path. "I'll throw you!" Eric shouts, holding his hands out, clasped together over his knee, waiting for Lauryn.

"No!" the young woman cries, in terror. "No! What about you?!"

Eric rolls his eyes at the red-headed instructor, leaning down, and grabbing around her legs, before tossing her, with as much strength as he can muster, over the burning debris blocking their path. Lauryn landed on her feet, with the grace of a cat, and turned to look at her leader in fear. "Go!" Eric screams, turning to run back up the stairs. Dodging more falling debris, and climbing out the window once more, as he attempts to scale down the side of the building.

Going down is harder than going up.

"Eric!" Four shouts from his position below, when he sees what the young leader is doing. Eric is moving swiftly down the side of the building, but he is still almost two stories above the semi-safety of the ground. An explosion rattles the building once again, and Eric loses his grip as the force of the blast pushes him away from the exterior wall.

Eric falls through the air, facing one of his worst fears in one terrifying moment.

Within seconds, the blonde-headed leader crashes onto the top of the old car that Four was using as a cover. "Shit, Eric!" Four rushes to pull the young leader off the car, and to the ground, sheltering them both from the storm of bullets still flying through the air. Four quickly inspects the blonde-haired man for injuries, cursing at the amount of blood pouring from the unconscious leader's nasty head wound. Four quickly pulls his radio from his belt, ducking as a bullet shatters the windshield of the car.

"D.C., D.C., this is Four! Do you copy!" Four screams into the handheld radio, in a panic.

"Four, this is D.C., go ahead, over."

"D.C., Eric is down! I repeat, we have a leader down! Apparent head trauma, unconscious, and unresponsive! We need a recon team, and backup, a.s.a.p., over!"

"Recon team deployed, stand by for extraction, over."

One week and three days later...

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

Eric awakens with a throbbing headache, blinking his eyes as he tries to focus on his surroundings, he gingerly brings a hand to feel the bandage on his head.

"Eric?... Hey, Eric's awake!" Eric groans as Lauryn screams down the hall, making his tender head pound even more. The red-headed girl practically sprints over to his bedside, looking at him expectantly, as Four, Max, and Amar hurriedly enter the small, dimly lit room.

"Damn, Eric! We didn't know if you were gonna wake up!" Amar exclaims, relief evident in his voice. "It's nice to know you aren't dead." Eric rolls his eyes at his former instructor, wincing at the pain in his eyes from performing the subtle, sarcastic gesture.

"You've been in a coma for a week and a half, get plenty of sleep?" Lauryn jokes, playfully, as the young leader glares at her in annoyance, and she giggles. "So, how are you feeling?"

"I- I- I-..." Eric clears his throat, forcing a cough, before attempting to speak again. "I- I- I f- f- f..."

The blonde-haired leader blinks his eyes rapidly in confusion, turning his worried gaze towards Max, who shares an equally worried expression.

"M- m- m- Max? W- w- w- w- w- w-." Eric bites his tongue, quickly clamping a hand over his mouth. He doesn't understand why he can't speak correctly.

"F- f- f- fuck!" Eric screams in frustration, pounding his fists into the mattress in his anger.

"Four," Max and the former Abnegation share a wary gaze, and Four nods, hurrying off at the Dauntless leader's unspoken request for a doctor.

"I don't understand?" Lauryn says, knitting her eyebrows together in confusion, as she looks from Max to Eric. "What's going on?"

"F- f- f- fuck if I kn- kn- know!" Eric screams, fighting back against the tears pricking behind his eyes. "M- M- Max, w- wh- what's w- wrong with m- m- me?"