Don't Go Away - Divergent Eric/ Four x OC

Chapter 20

Soon I couldn't hear the squeal of the machines or the cries from the surrounding people. Everything went white and I closed my eyes against the brightness. When I opened them the room was empty. It was very serene...and so bright for the normal darkness of Dauntless. I got out of bed, there were no tubes on me anymore. It was odd, but I wasn't panicked. Everything was so peaceful. I walked through the corridors and some people I hadn't seen before nodded their heads to me as I passed. I smiled at them and carried on walking. As I carried on walking, i heard a soft sob coming from further down the corridor.

I could see a child sat on the floor against the wall. I ran to them and crounched beside them.

"What's wrong?" I asked. The child looked up and I gasped. His eyes were glowing a cyan colour.

"The serum is killing us!" He screamed at me. I got up and looked behind me. At least 50 children, all dressed as a factionless were there, all with the same look. They were all shouting and screaming at me. All the same thing. That they were in pain. The serum was hurting them. All except one.

The small girl stood, eyes focused on mine and she smiled. She didn't seem bothered by the screaming around her. She just glared with an eerie smile across her face.

I walked towards her - or at least I think I did. I couldn't feel my legs moving. She came to me and held out her finger, a tiny drop of blood was on the end. I took her hand in mine, and noticed a drop of my own blood on my hand. She pressed her blood to mine and smiled at me once again, before throwing her arms around my neck.

"I love you mother...." She whispered before standing back. I could feel myself falling backwards.

When I opened my eyes I gasped for air as if I had been underwater the whole time. I was back in the ward, my bed was surrounded by mecical staff, all looking concerned. I could just make out Eric's tear stained face at the back.

"Good god....she's alive!" I heard Bea say.

I was dead?

Eric pushed his way forward and threw his arms around me, sobbing onto my shoulder.

"Oh my god....please don't do that to me again....please don't leave me..." He mumbled between cries.

I ran my hand down his cheek, wiping away his tears.

"I won't..." I muttered. "What happened?"

Bea came forward, her face white. 

"You died...for a good 3 minutes..." 

I looked up at her. For some reason that statement didn't shock me.

"Bea - you need to take another blood sample..."

"Well one step at a ti.."

"No...I mean it! I saw something. You need to test my blood now."

She didn't argue as she took a small vile of blood. Eric just looked at me in silence. It was obvious he was baffled by what was happening.

She slipped the vile into a small machine that was against the wall and looked as data appeared on the screen.

"Th...that can't be right...."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Your whole blood work has changed. It's like your body has built up a resistance to the serum and fought it off!"

Eric breathed a sigh of relief.

"Aria...you are the cure to this"

I pulled off the wires that were still attached to me.

"Bea...do you think you can turn this into a kind of antidote?"

"I...I don't know. I mean, we should be able to but it will take a few days" She looked utterly bewildered.

"Take more blood. We only have a day...maximum."

She took more viles of my blood until I began to feel faint again.

"We need to tell Max. If we can get an antidote into production, we can save the people who have been infected. We need to get to Erudite!" I said to Eric, getting up from the bed and pulling on my clothes. He nodded silently.

"Aria...are you sure about this? How did you know to test your blood again?"

I smiled at him. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

We made our way through the corridors back towards the leaders apartments. It must be nearly morning, the corridors were deathly quiet. 

We arrived at Max's apartment door and Eric banged his fist on it. A few seconds later, a weary looking Max opened the door. His eyes looked wide as he saw us stood in front of him.

"We figured it out. Aria's bloody has fought off the serum and built a resistance to it. We have an antidote." Eric sais in one breath.

Max stood to one side, allowing us into his apartment.

As he closed the door behind him, he spoke.

"You need to let this go."

What?!

Eric looked at me then back at Max.

"We can't afford a war with Erudite. The other leaders and I have been speaking almost all night and Erudite are our closest allies. We cannot start a war with them over a few dead factionless kids."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing and my anger came out.

"How can you say that?! They weren't made factionless. They were born into it. And incase you hadn't noticed - they tried to kill me too. One of your own. A dauntless...is that going to go by the wayside?!!"

Max avoided eye contact but maintatined his stand point as though reading from a script.

"We cannot afford to pursue this Aria. I'm sorry."

Finally Eric spoke.

"You can't be serious Max. They tried to kill her. In fact they succeeded for a while! We can't ignore this!!!"

Max scowled slightly. "Eric, you are in too deep. I understand your own personal feelings will not allow you to see this from my point of view. But I can't allow you to do this. I have to let you know. If you pursue this it will be deemed an offence. Now I must ask you to leave."

Eric turned on his heel, grabbing my wrist roughly and stormed from the apartment. He carried on marching down the corridor towards the chasm, his hand still tightly gripped around my wrist.

"Eric..."

He ignored me

"Eric....Eric!!! Please...you're hurting me!" I cried out as he yanked my wrist again. He snapped back and let me go, his eyes softening.

"I'm sorry...God Ari...I'm really sorry." He said, noticing the red mark on my wrist. He pulled me towards him and into his arms. We stood that way for a minute while I breathed in his scent.

"Let's go home...we need to figure this out."

I followed him back to his apartment in silence and as we entered he threw his jacket over the back of the chair.

I closed the door quietly and Eric fell onto the sofa - visably exhausted. I sat beside him, perched on the edge until I felt his arms around my waist, pulling me backwards.

"I adore you...I can't just let this go without a fight." he said, planting a soft kiss on my head.

"I know..." my eyes drifted, the last thing I remembered was the sweet smell of Eric as I nuzzled into his neck, before falling asleep.