𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝟎𝟎𝟖

"𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙮
𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮'𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨
𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨
𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙨."

𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝘡𝘢𝘺𝘥𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘧

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Eric glanced over his tablet with a passive look that he hoped others would interpret as disinterest. Your citizenship profile finally arrived from Amity headquarters that morning and he hadn't been able to put it down since it first landed on his desk.

Your full name was (Y/N) Celeste Newhart, eighteen years old. It felt strange to finally have a name to put to your face. It was the one detail he kept circling back to. (Y/N). His mind repeated it over and over as he marched the empty halls. (Y/N), (Y/N), (Y/N).

The rest of your profile was standard. You volunteered as a teacher's assistant from the moment you turned 14 right up until the day of the ceremony. You completed all of your schooling with average marks and showed a standard interest in agriculture. You were the most average Amity there was. 

So what made you so special?

At the very bottom of the screen, there was a little green glowing box. Test results...Abnegation. Nothing he didn't already suspect.

Eric remembered how terrified you looked on that rooftop and later at dinner. He remembered how your eyes kept wandering over to him and how Four sat next to you nearly the entire time. He wanted to know what Eaton said to make you freeze up like that, and he wanted to make sure he never said it again.

Max had him running laps around the compound all day, delivering information at different outposts and making calls to neighboring factions. Erudite was making another reach for an alliance and Eric debated ignoring all of the incoming calls from Jeanine so he could finally get a chance to watch you train.

Maybe it was the Erudite in him that made him so keen on studying your every move. That must've been it. Because Eric wouldn't let himself believe that it was anything else.

He noticed you at meals and between training sessions. It was a miracle that he could spot you at all in the sea of black uniforms, but even outside of your Amity gear, you seemed to pulse with sunny brightness that otherwise wouldn't reach so far underground.

You seemed to be friends with the stiff and her gang of misfits. They were the most pathetic group of initiates he had seen in a long time, but he supposed that it was safer that way. At least you weren't isolated. Not like he had been during his initiation.

Eric read through your file until he had memorized every last detail about your life. It had only taken him two laps around the training center, but now he was on his way back to his office. He had reports to fill out. Work to do. Things that had nothing to do with his sudden obsession with you and everything that had to do with you.

He didn't bother to look up while rounding the corner, which was half of the reason that he ran full force into the person that had been jogging in the opposite direction. The other half was because you hadn't been looking where you were going either.

Eric was a brick wall. It would take more than an initiate to knock him off his feet. He sneered and looked down, instantly going rigid when he recognized you gawking up at him.

"Sorry!" you squeaked, taking a second to realize what had happened before looking up and meeting his eye. You nearly jumped back an entire yard before Eric frowned and cemented you there on the spot. You opened your mouth to apologize again. "I'm–"

"Late for training, initiate?"

Eric bit back a snicker as your nervous eyes darted back and forth between his and the hallway behind him. You were in a hurry and he just loved inconveniencing people.

Your hair had been pulled back off your shoulders, no longer falling free in the Amity fashion. A few rebellious hairs still escaped and framed your face as you blinked up at him dumbly, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"I'm talking to you," Eric nearly growled, snapping you out of your daze.

"Fo-Four told me not to speak to my superiors," you whispered like you were embarrassed to be breaking a rule during your very first week. Part of you worried that this was a test and that you were failing miserably.

Eric quirked an eyebrow as if to say 'oh really?' and quickly closed out of your file tab. "You don't answer to Four," he said, making a mental note to have a little chat with your leader later. "You answer to me. Speak."

You gulped. "I-uh," you stammered, avoiding his eye again. He hated that. "Tris got hurt in the ring with Molly and Four sent me to get her an ice pack." You gestured to the block of ice that was quickly melting in your hands. Eric noticed that the skin of your knuckles was torn and bruised.

"I can see that," he sneered. You were obviously tougher than you looked, holding your own in training like that. The thought of you going up against a punching bag was adorable, but you could seriously injure someone if you ever needed to. Eric had to be blind not to see your potential as a soldier.

You were getting antsy, but he couldn't tell if it was him or the ice melt dripping between your fingers that were making you eager to leave.

Did you not recognize him at all?

"Carry on," Eric barked, glancing back down to his tablet nonchalantly. "And watch where you're going."

"Yes sir," you nodded, keeping your eyes locked on the ground as you swerved past him and continued down the hall. He liked the sound of that just a little too much.

Eric was glad that you already passed him so that he didn't have to bite the inside of his cheek to conceal his smirk. Once you were good and gone, he re-opened your file and continued down the empty corridor. 

He clicked on the box in the corner that opened the initiate's scoreboard. Your name was teetering over into the red zone alongside that one girl you were friends with – Christina. The stiff, Tris (stupid name), had already fallen into the red.

Eric already decided that he wouldn't let that happen to you. You had a leg up from being the first jumper, but you had yet to prove your worth to any of the leaders aside from him. You had the potential. He just needed to make you see it.

Maybe – just maybe – you might actually survive. 

(A/N: I didn't proofread this at all. I realize I haven't updated this since Christmas lmao my bad).