** First attempt at Divergent story, advice is always welcomed.**

*** It will follow some parts of the story but not others***

"Welcome to Dauntless." After my freefall I could barely think straight, the adrenaline was pulsing through my body I had never felt more alive than I did when I hit the net, it was like every nerve ending in my body was firing for the first time. Now I had to comprehend this man who was in front of me. His stature made it clear to me that he was someone to listen to. His body was ridged yet he still seemed approachable. He had darker features, a very brooding look on his face, his eyes seemed deep with thought and it was then I realized I was staring.

"Name," he demanded. I felt myself stumble at the simple question. When I looked back at him he seemed slightly amused. I was flushed, unable to answer this common question. "You can pick a new one," he continued when I did not respond. I thought for a moment not wanting him to think I was slow in some way.

"Tris," I finally spoke. I was more nervous standing in front of my new Dauntless leader than I had been on the edge of the building before I jumped moments ago.

"First jumper; Tris," he yelled and then I heard an eruption of applause and hollers behind him in the dark. I stepped aside and watched as people began to fall from the sky one after another. I felt a small sense of relief when Christina landed safety and was beside me. Soon we were separated from the Dauntless born and shown where we would be staying.

The idea of changing and showering together with strangers gave me an uneasy feeling, growing up abnegation had instilled a very presence shyness when it came to reveling my body in front of others. Soon we found ourselves in the pit, seeing all the madness had me on edge yet I could feel a fire burning slowly inside me with excitement. The desire to be a part of Dauntless was growing the more I saw. Life was buzzing every place we went, never a quiet corner or dull activity anywhere every Dauntless member I saw was burning bright with energy and passion. I had never seen anything like it, and craved its energy more and more with each passing moment. Then I met another Dauntless leader. Before he even spoke I could tell he was much different than Four.

His stature was very commanding, clear he was the alfa male and that his goal was to intimidate us all. His piercings looked as if they would hurt on his eyebrow, and especially the lip piercing he dawned. He was larger than Four in stature yet Four seemed to hardly notice his demanding presence as he stood next to him, it almost seemed the 2 rivaled each other.

"My name is Eric, I am a Dauntless leader here. I will be evaluating you in your training. I will be the one who decides who stays and who goes."

"Who goes?" Christina asked besides me.

"Only the strongest, fastest, and smartest of the initiates will be welcome to join Dauntless."

Christina and I looked at each other. I knew I was not strong and would not consider myself to be fast, smart maybe but looking around at the other initiates I could feel fear growing within me. Eric spoke again breaking me from my train of thought.

"Those of you that cannot survive here at Dauntless will become Factionless. Training begins tomorrow." He walked though us and brushed my shoulder, "watch it Stiff." I stepped aside but could not find courage to speak. We were dismissed and headed to the mess hall.

"What is that guy's problem?" Christina asked me.

"I don't know, he doesn't seem to like initiates too much," I responded. We sat at a table with Will, Al and some of the dauntless born.

"Seems like he needs to get laid if you ask me," Will said. The whole table burst out with laughter; I laughed but couldn't stop the burning from appearing on my cheeks.

"Are you guys talking about Eric?" One of the dauntless initiates asked.

"Yeah, what is his deal?" Christina asked.

"He is one of the newer Dauntless leaders, second in his initiate class after Four. He only became a leader because Four turned it down, they have been trying to get him into a permanent leadership position for years but he tries to avoid it."

"Yeah and the last thing Eric needs to do it get laid," someone piped up.

"Shut up Lola," the first one replied.

"You know what they say about him don't you Erin?" Erin did not seem to believe whatever Lola was about to tell us. He rolled his eyes as she bounced in her seat, so full of energy.

"What do they say?" Christina asked.

"Eric has slept with every female initiate that passes the final exam, since he was one himself; I mean the pretty ones at least." We all giggled slightly at the girl.

"Do not believe Keke, she has a way of believing any little piece of gossip she hears and then exaggerating it 10 fold." Erin piped in.

"Well what about Susan? Did I exaggerate that story?"

"Who is Susan?" Al asked.

"She was on the leadership path and then Eric got in her way. They were drinking in the pit one night and Erin and I saw them leave together, then no one saw her for a few days."

"So what happened?" I asked, it Keke made it seem like Eric had hurt her and from my brief encounter with him it did not seem that farfetched.

"When we did finally see her there was a bruise around her neck," Erin said reluctantly, he didn't seem to like indulging Keke, which made me believe him much more than I might have believed the blonde Dauntless initiate.

"What kind of bruise?" Christian asked.

"A hand print," Keke whispered causing all of us to lean in to listen further. "It was so bad you could see it on her neck for almost 3 weeks.

"And then she took a job in the control room, no more leadership trainings or anything like that after her night with Eric."

All of us transfer initiates looked at each other shocked, that a Dauntless leader had harmed another faction member and nothing had come of it. I leaned away from the group and at that moment happened to catch the eyes of Four, he was looking over to at me. I glanced down immediately, embarrassed though I know I shouldn't be. We all finished eating and headed back to our sleeping area without any more gossip about the Dauntless leaders.

I lay awake with thoughts of Eric and the story Keke and Erin had told us at dinner, wondering if something like that could happen around here. There didn't seem to be rules really and I couldn't imagine anyone standing up to Eric not even Four. Something Erin had said at dinner did stick with me though; Four had beaten Eric when they were initiates. It made sense why Four never had a problem holding his own in the presence of Eric and why he was the only one to ever seem at ease around him, it was clear even the Dauntless born were not comfortable being near him. I wondered how Four had beaten him, Eric was bigger and appeared like he would be stronger than Four, not that Four appeared weak. And why hadn't Four wanted to be a part of leadership? I had a lot to learn but for now, I needed to focus on the upcoming training.

…

With the first 3 weeks of training under my belt it was clear to me I was never going to make the cut in Dauntless. I was covered in bruises with new ones replacing the old ones each day. Eric had me fight against the biggest and strongest initiates there were, it seemed he had taken a real disliking to me and the fact I was from Abnegation. He only ever called me "stiff" and seemed annoyed each time I was in his presence. Four was a good teacher working with me but I was just too weak, but it seemed we were growing closer. Luckily today we were throwing knives, something that couldn't cause new bruises and I was actually good at.

"It is kind of scary how good you are," Christina said, leaning over to me. I watched her throw and barely hit the outside of the target.

"It is kind of scary how bad you are," I joked. She playfully rolled her eyes at me and continued to throw the daggers.

"Everyone stop!" I looked over to see Eric standing with Al.

"Dauntless are never afraid. You will stand in front of the target and if you flinch you are out." I could tell Al was scared, with hunched shoulders he solemnly walked to take his place in front of the target.

I could feel something burning inside of me, this wasn't right, and Al would flinch the moment Four released the dagger no matter the proximity to him. "Wait!" Everyone looked at me. "Standing there proves nothing anyone can stand in front of a target."

"Why don't you take his place then," Eric offered. I nodded more to myself than to him and headed to take Al's place in front of the target. He quickly moved out of my way, and I stood looking straight at Four. The first dagger flew towards me and I heard the loud impact of it hitting the wooden target. Then the second and third dagger hit each one getting closer to me.

"Come on Four, you can do better than that." Eric egged on.

I looked for sympathy on Four's face but saw nothing but the steel mask he always dawned. He picked up the last dagger and flipped in around in his hand a few times before throwing it towards me. I felt the razor skim my ear but didn't dare to move. Heat surrounded the area the dagger had hit, I could feel the burn of it.

"Points for bravery Stiff, but your defiance is unacceptable. Office visit after lunch," Eric said. "Class dismissed."

I felt tears burrowing in the corners of my eyes and tried to brush past Four as we were the last ones there, he grabbed my arm and spun me to face him.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"You cut me."

"I did it for you; if I hadn't drawn blood Eric would have thrown the next one and hit you worse than I did."

"I don't need you doing me any favors, I don't want to look weak, I can handle Eric," I replied pulling my arm away from Four. He looked aggravated with me but before he could speak we were interrupted.

"You think so do you?" We both turned and saw Eric standing a few feet from us his features twisted into an evil grin.

"Don't worry Four, the stiff can take care of herself." Four huffed in indifference and left us alone. I didn't mean to act so harsh towards Four, and now I was alone with Eric, something I did not like the feeling of.

"What makes you think you can speak out like that to me?" Eric asked.

"I didn't mean to be disrespectful, I just wanted to protect Al."

"You think Al is going to protect you in the face of danger? Protecting a weak solider makes you weak Tris, it makes Dauntless weak." I was caught off guard when he said my name and he seemed to take notice of it. "These challenges are meant to find the weak soldiers who cannot protect themselves or their Dauntless brothers. If you want to make it through initiation you should focus on yourself and getting stronger so you can win a fight."

"Can you help me?" I asked. For the first time since I had been around Eric he seemed shocked.

"That is what your instructor is for; I don't have time to help a stiff learn to fight, if you ever need a sparring partner though I would assist you then."

"Just so you can hit me?" I asked, planting my feet firmly on the ground, I was ready to confront Eric. "Will you respect me then?"

Eric laughed a full hearted laugh that echoed in the empty training room. "I don't need an excuse to fight you, and I am the wrong person to pick a fight with, especially without your precious Four around to save you."

With that he pushed me aside and headed for the exit. I wanted to say something but was not sure how to respond, I didn't think me and Four's relationship was noticeable but maybe it was. I wasn't even sure what kind of relationship we had, whether we had become friends or he just felt sorry watching me get beat up every day. It made me wonder if Four had said something to Eric about me but I seriously doubted that as Four barely talked to anyone and I didn't see him opening up to Eric of all people. I headed to the mess hall with a mission in mind.

"Hey Christina, let's get tattoos."

"Hey to you too," she said, clearly startled by my outburst greeting. She was halfway through her lunch but she was always looking for an adventure. "Alright let's do it!" We left Al, and Will at the table in silence and headed to the tattoo parlor. I had already gotten my first tattoo on my collarbone but I wanted more.

"What are you going to get?" Christina asked me.

"Dauntless flames," I replied to her and then looked over to the tattoo artist Tori. "Hey can you put some Dauntless flames around my arm?" I asked her.

"Where do you want them?" she asked,

I showed her that I wanted them in to wrap in a circle around my upper right bicep. She seemed wary looking at me and I wondered if you should tell I was on edge, after my talk with Eric I was feeling wired, jumpy almost. "Are you feeling okay?" Tori asked me.

"Feeling great, why do you ask?" I tried to get myself under control.

"You just seem a little off, but okay I have the design let's do it. She places the tattoo design on my arm and soon enough it was permanently placed in ink on my bicep. "What about you Christina?"

She held up a design of a skull, and explained she wanted it on the back of her neck. Tori agreed and put her in the chair and placed the design on her. It wasn't too long before we were both walking out with our new tattoos. We were both excited to show everyone our tattoos but before we could make it back to the dormitory our paths crossed with Four.

"Hey Four," Christina greeted.

"The afternoon training session has been cancelled; there is a leadership meeting that has to be done during that time. You have the rest of the afternoon off, I just told the rest of the transfers, where were you both?" he asked.

"Getting tattoos!" Christina said turning around to proudly show her off.

"Where is yours?" he asked, looking at me.

"It is on my arm," I explained, I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and there was no easy way to show him without changing first or taking my shirt off before him. He simply nodded and pressed past us.

"Four wait up." I left Christina's side to jog after Four. "Can we talk a minute?" I asked once I reached him.

"I don't have time now," he said, brushing me off.

"It is about what I said after knife throwing," I tried, again. He stopped walking and looked at me with a grin playing at the corners of his mouth.

"Meet me after dinner," he replied, and then walked away. I turned back and headed to the dormitory where Christian, Will and Al were all waiting. h slight amounts of interest; I could almost see the grin playing at the corners of this mouth.

"What are we going to do with all this free time?" I asked joining them.

"How about a nap for once," Will suggest.

"We should shower and get dressed up explore the compound, maybe drink down at the pit later on tonight," Christina offered instead.

"Drink alcohol?" I asked, I realized as soon as I said it, it was a dumb question but the idea of drinking made me very nervous, shaking all my "stiff" behaviors was hard when things like this appeared though I knew they were things that Dauntless did all the time.

"Come on it will be fun!" Christina urged. We all agreed, but had convinced her, a nap wouldn't be a bad idea if we were going to drink. I just hoped I would be able to find Four before Christina put a alcohol in front of me.

A/N Please review! Thanks