Eric Coulter Oneshots

{This Mask of Mine part3}

The last part of Dauntless initiation was the hardest. That's what I had heard. It's what I expected. This had been the last day of throwing knives and punching one another's faces, not that I'd lost more than two of those. I was ranked fourth.

I was however very excited to train with Uriah and Marlene. The only true friend I had in the transfers was Peter, and I wish it were more than that. He also only would talk to me once everybody else had fallen asleep. Including me. He'd always shake me awake and we'd take a little walk around the compound and tell the other about the day. We tried not to stay up to late but it was hard and sometimes we wouldn't get any sleep. The following days were hard.

Tonight I lay awake. I wait for Peter. After what feels like hours I walk to his bunk. He wasn't there. He had snuck off. Probably to prank someone. It hurt but as your mother had said. 'Who would want to talk to worthless trash like you.' Maybe Peter has forgotten about me.

I let my bare feet slap the concrete floor as I walk towards the cold door. It opens and shut and I was in my way to Eric's apartment. He had given me a key. Sometimes after Peter drifted off I'd sneak away to his place.

I opened the door and as I expected he fell asleep on the couch again. "Er." I shook him. I had called him this when I was a child. "Er." I I said a little louder. He was a heavy sleeper. "WAKE UP YOU ANNOYING LITTLE INITIATES!" I yelled and he shot up. Once he was instructed to wake us up instead of Four. That is how he did it. He fell off the couch in a sleepy daze. The walls thankfully were thick. "Elena I'm going to kill you." He moaned. "I'd like to see you try." I mock. "So how's Candor?" He asked. He knew about my crush on Peter. "That's just it." I pause. "He didn't come tonight." Eric stood up. "I'm going to kill him." I grab his and find a nerve in his shoulder. He yelps in pain. "Okay okay I get it!" I let go. "Just because he didn't show up once dose not mean he's hurt me or is a coward." I say. "If he dose hurt my baby sister -or anyone hurts you- there dead." "I'm not your baby anything Eric." I point out. "I'm a grown woman." He sighs. "I know. I'm just used to protecting you." 'Then where were you.' I thought to myself. "Elena?" He punched my shoulder. "Ow Er!" I say. "You spaces out again sorry." I shake it off. "I'm just nervous about the next stage." He points to the bags under my eyes. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up in the morning." He threw a blanket at me. "Oh and... love you." "Love you to Er." And then he walked out.

I hit the floor with a thump. "Ow." I rubbed my forehead and sat up to see Eric putting the couch down. "Your a heavy sleeper Elena."
"Your the one to talk." He chuckled. "Good point. Now get up, you have a sim today."
I had slept in normal clothes last night. I thanked my brother and jogged to the pit. "Elena!" Marlene said. "Hey." I say I'm response. "You were almost late follow me we have to catch up." Then She dragged me to a room.

"Good of you to join us Elena." Four said. "That will be some points off." I sat down on a metal bench. "Well I'll start from the beginning since two of you were late." He sighed. "This is a different kind of abuse." I flinched. That word was engraved into my brain. He saw me flinch and his eyes stayed one me curiously. "I will inject you with a serum that has a transmitter in it. It will simulate fear and I will see the image on a screen. It is rare that you see your actual fears in this. That is for your fear landscape which we will do tomorrow." I shivered. Everyone would find out. Eric, Four, and Peter would make me tell him about it.

Eric sauntered in. Four came in with a list of names. "Elena and Marlene are first." She squeezes my shoulder reassuringly though I could feel her shaking. "Follow me," he said. He lead us to a hallway where Eric took Marlene one way and I went the other way with Four. Near the end there was a small room with a chair in it. It looked like a dentist chair.

I sat down and he put two disks in my temples and injected me. "The serum will take place in 60 seconds." I nod.

I wake up in the Erudite headquarters. Something is obviously different though. It is in ruins shatters windows and grown over walls. It was like the factionless sector.  I Walked up the mossy stairs in front of me. The gray above me filled with mosquitoes. I ran back towards the door that I exited from. It had been locked. How did I get here? I wondered. I feel them land over my arms and legs and creep up my sleeve and pants. I feel them bite me all at once. I scream and they crawl over my stomach and face and into my eyes. They bite me and I flail like crazy. I try to beat them of. I lay on the ground face down crying out tears of broken bug bodies and blood. I scream and sob.

Then I hear children laughing at me. There smiles were cruel and twisted. "Broken Girl!" They cheered. "Broken Girl! Broken Girl!" I think. How do I get them off. The edge of the roof wasn't to far away. I rolled towards them. "Broken Girl." I stood up and jumped off the roof. The ground sunk and baptized me in mud. I feel proud that I thought of a way out. A small voice in my head went this is a sim. Is that how I got here? A sim? That's right four put me under one.

My heart rate slowed. And I shot up from the chair. "Hey hey hey easy." He said easing me back into the chair. He looked concerned. "How did I do?" I ask. "You were only in there for 6 minutes." "It felt like hours." "That's nearly half the normal time." "Are you telling me something." He nods. "I have more people to put into the sim." He said. "So this needs to be quick." I nod. "I think your divergent. Not strong enough to be noticed, but still, don't tell anyone." I nod. I can keep a secret. I remember learning about them in Erudite. They were dangerous. "You are free to go." I nod. A pit of nerves formed in my stomach. I wish he hadn't told me.