FEARLESS

ZEKE

The next morning, while the initiates were still asleep, Emery rose from her bed. 

Seeing her score on the board made her even more determined, she had proven herself, she had overcome the first hurdle, now all she had to do was stick the landing. 

It would be bittersweet if she showed herself up by plummeting through the ranks after the first ranking, so she headed to the Pit early. 

Other dauntless, older dauntless, only by a few years, were also dotted around the pit; often some of them coming early in the morning before they went away to work. Emery grabbed a breakfast sandwich and a coffee, choosing a corner of the pit near the chasm end. The salty water from below made it a tad cooler that end, and she enjoyed the brisk breeze it supplied 

"Couldn't sleep?" One of the older dauntless asked, running up next to her holding some bandage and tape. 

"Nope, people really need to get their snoring issues worked out" Emery replied, the guy smiled as he began to wrap the bandage around his wrist. Emery gave a smile back, and when she looked up at him, something about him seemed familiar. "You hurt yourself?" she asked

"It's inevitable not to get a little hurt here, no worries, I could still kick your ass" He joked, Emery, rolled her eyes. There was that dauntless arrogance, and a familiar arrogance, now she knew why he was so familiar. 

"Let me guess, you're Zeke, Uriah's brother" He nodded, swinging his arm around her shoulder and squeezing her in tight. 

"And you must be the stiff. Uriah has told me all about you" He said smiling, that's what it was; their smile was identical, a goofy cute grin that made you smile as well. 

"And Uriah has told me all about you too. Tell me, does cockiness run in the family?" Emery asked, Zeke laughed.

"Probably, say, my little brothers got to be too weasly to be cocky"

"If Uriah's what you call weasly here in Dauntless then I'm in serious trouble" Emery replied. The two of them were strolling around the pit, silently deciding they should train together.  They stopped in front of the targets and began rustling through the draws for the throwing knives. 

"Well he can't be that good, I hear the stiff's beating him" 

"Technically not, I'm higher on the transfers board but, together he's higher. For now, the scores are only a rough outline, they can't be that accurate, they've only been watching us for a few days" Emery said, Zeke shrugged as he passed her a knife.

"I dunno, apparently you're pretty good, that's what we've been hearing"

"For an untrained transfer maybe", Emery pointed out. "Who's we?" she asked. Zeke turned around and pointed to a group of dauntless over by the benches. 

"Me, my friends and practically the whole of the older Dauntless. It's not every year we get a stiff or a decent one at that. They're usually out in the first hour. A day if they're lucky" . Emery smiled weakly at the older dauntless, who waved and smiled at her. Some wolf-whistled, which made Zeke blush. 

"Well prepared to be proved wrong" 

***

Emery was excited she got to train with Zeke, considering he had already passed initiation and was a valued member of dauntless, he was able to show her things other intiates hadn't done yet. 

They began with things like running, agility, strength, skill. But slowly gravitated toward the knives. Emery picked them up with ecstasy. 

"Easy serial killer" Zeke joked. 

"What?"

"You have one hell of a glint in your eye" Zeke smiled, pinching her cheeks. 

"I'm just excited I get to use one, so, how do I stand?" Emery asked, Zeke had shown her, positioning her toward the target, and showing her how she should throw by practising himself. "You're good at that" Emery noted, almost all of them had hit the target. 

"Your turn" Zeke gestured for her to try. 

Emery went over what Zeke had said in her brain. 

Emery thought her aim would actually be pretty good, it would be making the knife stick would be the challenge. She flipped the delicate knife over in her hand a few times before launching it at the target. 

Zeke puffed air from his mouth in surprise, laughing as the knife soared, and stuck straight into the X marked on the target's head. "Holy shit" he commented. "You're a little scary you know that?" 

By the time they had finished, Emery had a great grasp of throwing. She had the stance down, the knowledge on how to make the knife stick, and she was pretty good at it. 

Obviously she had missed a few times, some not sticking or others just getting the leg or some shit, but, she was happy leaving the pit that morning. 

It was funny, her average even worked out better than Zeke's, even though he swore it was a fluke. Emery swore to never let it go, to forever taunt him with the memory. 

***

Emery made her way back to the mess hall, bringing her breakfast sandwich with her and tucking in. Her belly grumbled and screamed out for something, and taking that first bite, she almost moaned. 

The food was so much better here than in Abnegation. 

"Ah, the stiff" A voice noted. Emery jumped a little as she turned to see Eric. She had never really noticed it before, but he was handsome. Like, really handsome. 

She had appreciated he was a good looking guy, but, perhaps it was because this morning the shirt he wore exposed his muscles a little more, showing his many tattoos, strong arms that could crush you, and that the light perfectly sliced across his face, illuminating his grey-blue eyes. 

"I was upset, seeing your bed empty when I made the call this morning" Eric noted. 

"I couldn't sleep, thought I'd get in a few hours"

"Spoken like a true dauntless" he stated, sitting down opposite her with nothing but a banana and a coffee. "I wouldn't want you to tire yourself out though". 

"I won't"

"I wouldn't be so sure, do you not know what we have in store for you today twinkie". 

Twinkie, Emery thought. She's getting nicknames now?

"What is it?"

"The initiates are sparring with the leaders today" Emery practically choked. 

"What?"

"Well technically we're not really fighting, you have that to look forward to on your last week of initiation, but we are going one-to-one for training" Eric let out a dark chuckle. "I'm looking forward to knocking you on your back," he said in a low growl. 

Emery swallowed, his tone and words eliciting tingles over her body. What the hell did he mean by that? She noticed Four coming up behind them, catching his eyes as she felt the both of them burn stares into her head. 

"So you enjoy beating the shit out of the newbies?" She asked. Eric's eyes were flirtatious, his tongue licking his lips ever so slightly as he lent over her as she sat down. Nothing needed to be said, he was undressing her with his eyes. Four coughed, breaking Erics glare. 

"You're needed in the pit", Four explained. Eric snickered quietly, not answering, but responding to Emery instead. 

"It's gonna be the workout of your life sweetheart".