"How the hell did Eric get dad's ring?" Miles asks his sister, "He claims he got it from the lost and found, but I don't believe him." Jade tells him, and Four shakes his head, laugh-scoffing. "Good thing you don't because there is no lost and found in Dauntless," Four says. Jade rolls her eyes at the fact Eric lied to her, again. "He's supposedly obsessed with me but yet he acts like a manipulative, controlling bag of dicks around me. It doesn't make any sense. I'm almost convinced he likes seeing me upset." Jade says, as Four hands her mother's ring back. "And plus the fact he doesn't even have the decency to give you back the ring. Like a normal fucking human being would, especially after the fact you told him what's engraved on the inside." Miles says in a huff, and then double takes Jade.
"You did tell him right?" - "of course I told him Miles. I told him before he even took the ring off to check. The bastard didn't even know it was there til I told him." Jade explains in frustration at Eric's actions. "What does it say?" Four asks, obviously curious. "Family, before faction. J + A .H." Both Jade and Miles say in unison, and they even both look at eachother surprised in unison, while Four looks at the both of them in amusement. "And to think there's another one of you guys." Four says in a playful manner, making them laugh. "I honestly wonder what he looks like, all I'm picturing is another Miles." He adds on, making Miles laugh harder.
Jade didn't laugh because she remembered something. She remembered that there was one person she once thought could've been their sibling. She ponders for a moment, and then decides to get her boyfriend and brother's opinion on it. "I'm not gonna lie, I used to think I was going to be job training right beside him." Jade says, and the two look at her confused. "What are you saying Nat?" Miles questions her. "I'm saying, I was almost convinced Liam was our brother, until I didn't see the ring. He also told me something about an aunt he has so, I'm not sure." Jade explains.
Miles scratches his head, "I mean, I can see a resemblance now that you've said something. And he is divergent like us. But, there's an obvious deal breaker, it's his name." Miles points out, and Jade shakes her head. "He could've changed his name Miles. And actually, now that I think about it. . ." Jade trailed off as if she was having an epiphany, "he could've split the name William in between the two L's, you get Wil- and -Liam." Jade gasped in realization, "I think it is him. It just has to be him." She says. "And I got just the idea to see if he is, all we need to do is get that ring back." Jade adds. "Alright then, lets go find that son of a bitch." Four responds, and begins to head in the direction of the last place they saw him. The two siblings follow Four as they entered the training room, each of them scan the room in search for their cold hearted leader.
They spot Lauren and decided to approach, and they asked if she had saw Eric. "Yes unfortunately, he's right other there, better hurry though cuz it looks like he's heading out the back exit." She confirmed, and pointed to the exit that lead outside, Eric had just begun walking towards it. "Hey shit-stain!" Jade calls out and to her surprise, the blond stops in his tracks, and turns on his heels as the group of three approach. "Oh wow, you actually listened to me for once. I gotta admit, it's pretty funny how you think either of them is going to make me cough up this ring." Eric says to Jade, and Four gently holds his girlfriend back and gets into the leaders face. For a moment he just glares into his eyes, with his jaw clenched. He crosses his arms, "Eric. . . why are you doing this?" He questions, "What's the real reason you're keeping something from this family?" Four also asks. He doesn't answer, "It can't be just because you want something I have. Or, I should say," Four peers beside him, at Jade.
"Someone I have." He clarified, looking Eric up and down in disgust. Eric rolls his eyes just before a smile curled up onto his face. "Oh no, that's definitely a reason, but it's surely not the only reason." Eric finally confesses. Jade scoffs, "oh wow, so now you wanna grow some balls and be honest. You do realize you want someone who's already in love with someone else right? You do realize me and you, will never happen right?" Jade asks him, and Eric just smiles some more. Even though his eyes told a different story in that moment. "We'll see about that. Like I said to him, I have my ways when it comes to what I want." Eric responds, and he manages to reach out gently, and oh so slightly caresses Jade's jaw with his hand.
She quickly smacked his hand away and attempted to knee him in his junk. She failed because he grabbed her knee just in time. He let go and waved his finger in her face, "not so fast beautiful." He says, and she looks into his eyes, and scans them to see if there was any speck of decency. There was not even a glint. Eric lost his train of thought returning the gaze, and it was noticeable. Jade reached for the hand the ring was on, but of course, her actions knocked him right back into reality. "That was cute but, you're not slick." Eric says pulling his arm back just before she could latch onto the ring. "The only way you're getting this ring is if you pull it off my cold, dead, finger." Says Eric, and Miles snickers.
"We could gladly, have that arranged." He says with a evil smile. Eric raised his eyebrows at Miles, mostly at the surprise comment that the leader had almost thought came from Four. "Last time I remembered, your sister inherited more testosterone and not to mention balls then you did. But after hearing that, I'm second guessing myself as I fearfully shake in my boots." Eric says, sarcasm oozing from his tone. And as expected, the comment hit a nerve and Miles nearly lunged at Eric. An extended arm stopped him, and it wasn't his sisters.
Four shook his head at Miles, and that was all it took for him to back down. Four then pulled Jade back from being near Eric and took her place directly in front of him. "Fight me for it." Four says quickly, and Eric furrowed his eyebrows at him. "Wait, what did you just say?" - "you heard what I fucking said. I said, fight me for it. If I win they get the ring back. And also, just so we can settle this now, if I do in fact win, this whole 'in love with my girlfriend' thing ends. The disrespect will end the moment I knock your punk ass clean out, just like how I did many times years ago." Four offers, Jade had heard and was about to intervene, but then realized it would come off as her doubting Four's fighting ability to Eric, and she definitely didn't doubt him. "I like the confidence, but you fail to realize a lot has change since then. Like for one, I'm no longer that weak, scared little transfer. Unlike you, you're still the same Tobias. And anyways, you're not gonna like my stipulation." Eric says aloud, and even though hearing his real name fall from Eric's lips sent rage coursing through his veins; Four kept calm.
"And what might that be?" He asks, and Eric smiles, looking over Fours shoulder at Jade. "If I win, you can have your dumb ring back, what I want is her." Eric points to Jade, and she scoffs, but before she could angrily interrupt, Four was already shaking hands with Eric. Jade was now stood there in place, with her mouth agape looking at Four in disbelief. Eric left in the direction of the arena's as Four turned around to the expected face, "you got exactly four seconds to explain why on earth you didn't even at least hesitate, on making a deal like that? Believe me, I really do want that ring back and I do know what you're capable of but, a ring? In exchange for me?" Jade questions annoyed, confused, and hurt all in one. Four shakes his head with a smile on his face and attempts to place a hand on her cheek.
But she ends up pulling her head away from his hand and looked up into his eyes, waiting for an answer. He then realized she took his actions to heart, and his expression softened in sadness. "Natalie I..." - "you know what," she interrupts, putting a finger infront of his face, "forget I said anything, doesn't really matter anyways. Let's just get this over with." She quickly drops the subject, and heads towards the matted arena where Eric was, already stretching. And even though she could hear Four calling for her to wait, and come back, she decides to focus on Eric than to even think to turn back. The blonde leader had taken off his shoes, jacket and his face piercings.
Miles caught up with her, and stood beside her once they were on the sidelines of the arena Eric was on. "Nat, you okay?" Miles asks, she shakes her head no and he instantly wraps his arms around her. "Guess your boyfriend isn't so perfect after all huh? Don't you worry though, I'll be better then he'll ever was." Eric says to her, and Miles snaps. "Eric can you please just fuck off and wait for Four? You're freakishly obsessed with my sister but yet you're over here fucking with her like this is some kind of a joke. What's wrong with you?" Miles asks, releasing his sister, but regardless of the fact the question was rhetorical, Eric felt the need to respond. "Only thing that's wrong with me is that she's with him, and not me, good thing after I win this fight she will be." - "the hell she will." Four says walking up, he already had his shoes off along with his leather jacket.
And unlike Eric, she could see her boyfriend's muscles through his semi-tight shirt. Four and Eric started talking crap as Jade was more focused on Four's appearance. He may have pissed her off but, that surely didn't stop her from admiring him. He must've noticed her gawking because the next thing he took off was his shirt, leaving him bare from the v-line and up. She rolls her eyes yet, a smile grows on her face as she continues to gaze. Miles looks over at his sister and laughs, "you're drooling a bit there sis. Do I need to get a bucket?" He jokes, and Jade pops back into reality with a chuckle and smacks her brother's arm.
Four and Eric stretch for about five more minutes, and in those five minutes people began to surround the arena. A singular female stood out in particular, and it wasn't because of her obnoxiously bright red hair either. It was the fact that Rose was staring at Four the same way Jade was moments ago. She ignored the redhead for now and focused back in on the two males who were now circling on the mat. "Don't let all that muscle fool you all. He's still that scrawny, weak minded little abnegation I used to know." Eric says looking to the audience and few gasped, beginning to whisper to one another, surprised at Fours faction of origin.
"Don't try and single me out, you're just as much a transfer as I am. The only difference is, I wasn't a covered in blue, know-it-all, stuck up fucking Erudite like you." Four spat back, and a few loud 'ooo's' could be heard from the crowd. Eric chuckles, "Y'know, I wonder if those daddy issue rumors are true. Did your father beat you Four?" Eric says to him, and this holy hell of a fucked up comment struck a different type of nerve for Four. It made his heart race and his breathing quick, and short. Not to mention his fists were squeezed yellow due to how hard he was clenching them. "Did he use his fists or did he use a belt? I'm thinking belt by the size of that back tattoo, he used one of those thick leather ones huh?" Eric teases further, egging Four on more and more.
Four gave Eric a look not even himself felt familiar with giving. He looked at him as if he wanted to kill. "Kick his ass Four!" Someone shouts from the crowd just as silence washed over the two circling opponents. "Gladly." Four mutters through his teeth just before Eric lunged out at him with the first punch of the fight. Four quickly dodged his swing and nailed the blonde right in the gut as hard as he physically could.
Causing Eric to lose his breathe and stumble back. Four gives Eric a smirk as he notices a certain someone had joined to watch their fight. It was Max, Dauntless's alpha leader, he seemed to be looking at Eric unimpressed as another dauntless member whispered in his ear. But Eric was too busy planning out his next attack in his head to notice. Four then connects a left hook with Eric's jaw and attempts to land a right one but, Eric deflects the punch and tackles Four to the ground.
The two males grunt and hiss on impact with the mat as gasps could be heard from the now enlarged crowd. Eric lands a couple blows while straddling him but Four managed to block majority, and eventually he flipped the scripted and flipped it over to where Eric was now the one being man-handled and straddled. Four managed to get in three hard punches to the nose before Eric kneed him in the back multiple times, in attempts to get him off. Luckily for Eric it did and Four rolled off of him and got on his feet. "Is that really all you got?" Eric questions, even though blood could be seen coming out of his right nostril.
Four chuckles and then acts as if he's wiping blood from his own nose and points to Eric's face, trying to get him to notice his bloody nose. Eric furrows his eyebrows for just a moment before touching his finger to his nose, finally noticing the blood, and wipes it. But as Eric took the time to wipe the fallen blood, Four catches him off guard and swiftly kicks his legs out from under him. Loud hisses, snickers, and more 'ooo's' could be heard from the audience. Someone had even shouted, "one helluva upcoming Dauntless leader we got." Sarcastically, making the crowd laugh. The comment obviously pissed Eric off because, he stood quickly from the ground and went absolutely ballistic.
Throwing punches at Four left and right, and unfortunately, he landed majority and few were countered. Four failed to block his attack because he was taken by surprise by the fast recovery. Eric had even began to counter each attack Four had thrown, which undoubtedly made Jade worry. Eric eventually countered a swing by grabbing and twisting Four's arm begin his back and up, in-between his shoulder blades. Eric pushed his forearm so far up, Fours knuckles were touching the abnegation symbol which laid tattooed upon his back.
Four couldn't bare the pain so he did the only possible thing he could do, and threw his head back into Eric's face as hard as possible. And to the crowds mortification, the sound of Eric's nose breaking echoed throughout the training room. The blond dropped down to the floor clutching his face, with the addition of more blood leaking from his now crooked nostrils. The Dauntless leader cussed, hissed, groaned, bitched, and moaned but the one thing he didn't do, was give up. Eric stood on his feet, and used his shirt to wipe the blood from his nose all the way down to his neck.
Four snickered, "you sure you don't wanna give up? That nose looks pretty bad." Four teases. And all it does is give Eric the needed anger, and adrenaline to run, jump and land a undeniably strong punch directly into Fours jaw from the left. The punch was nothing but sheer force, and the outcome of it was shocking to many. Four was knocked down onto the mat with his face to the side, and his eyes were slowly but surely closing, they fluttered as if he were fighting to stay conscious. Jade knew she couldn't intervene and try and shake him awake like she really wanted to, so she did the only thing possible.
She fell to her knees, "Four look at me!" She called, and his eyes nearly closed completely before she had yelled out his name. "I need you to get up. Just listen to my voice, and please just get up!" Jade yelled again. But instead of his opening, they closed completely and his body fell limp. Jade gasped, "...No..." she muttered to herself, and she looked to her brother, who had his hands in his hair and his mouth agape, looking at the scene in front of them. The crowd was in absolute utter-shock, considering it was silent. So silent you could hear a pen drop from across the huge room.
Eric begins to laugh maliciously, and the unexpected laughter made Jade's heart, and facial expression sink even more. "Would'gah look at that? The scary and mysterious Four, top of his class, chosen Instructor, and thought to be undefeatable. That last part is void now." Eric says in triumph, just before he looks at Jade, who was now looking right back at him with pure, unadulterated hatred in her eyes. She had never hated someone so much in her life, until this very moment. She had to fight the urge to lunge out at Eric and throttle him till his body fell limp. Few people in the crowd began to leave as Eric smiles at her, "and now, to collect my prize." He proudly says aloud and started walking in the direction of Jade.
Eric stepped right in-front of her and twisted off the ring, "and as promised." He says gently taking her hand and placing her fathers wedding band into her palm. Eric tucked a curl behind her ear, and gave her devious smile. Just then, the little audience started to giggle and whisper, Jade peered over at the crowd and eventually over Eric's shoulder. And to her relief Four was standing there, with smile on his face, and pointer finger against his mouth, shushing the crowd. Eric notices Jade's relieved expression aimed behind him, which eventually caused him to turn around, to meet Fours smirking face.
"I can't believe you really thought you knocked me out." Four says laughing, and the audience members that had originally left, where called back by others. "You should've just stayed down. Now you're gonna get your ass handed to you again." - "No. You guys aren't fighting anymore. Especially since I have what I want now." Jade interrupts flashing the ring. "No if he wants to continue, then that's exactly what we're gonna do. It's not about the ring anymore. It's about you." Four says to her, even though he kept his eyes on Eric. Eventually he did look at her, and the look made her realize he was serious about this, and gave him a slight nod. The two males once again circled the center of the mat, both crouched down in fighting stances.
Eric threw the first punch once again, but Four easily dodged it by stepping to the right and threw a forceful blow into the side of Eric's torso. He hisses at the pain but throws a fast one directly at Four's jaw but, he once again misses. Four then surprises the whole entire crowd with a body weight enhanced right handed upper cut to Eric's jaw, sending the Dauntless leader flying slightly up, and back. But he didn't hit the mat, he actually ended up on one knee, trying to shake off the blown instead of falling. "I'd stay down if I were you." Four suggested as he shook out the hand he hit him with.
Eric rolled his eyes and stood up straight, and got back into his fight stance. Four shrugged, and shook his head with a chuckle, but did the same regardless. Eric attempted to tackle Four again, but this time, Four stood his ground and kneed Eric directly in the mouth. He fell back a bit, but he disregarded the pain of the attack and tried to kick Four. But the well trained instructor caught his foot mid-air and hooked his own foot around the one Eric was balancing on, pulling it out from under him.
Eric hit the mat once more, and it was obvious he was using up all his energy and stamina trying to fight Four. "Concede." Four says to him. Eric looks up at him breathing and bleeding heavily, "Never!" He says and got right back up, charging at Four once again. Four kicked him in his chest once, knocking him back just enough for Four to do something totally unexpected. Four twisted into the air and strenuously kicked Eric once more, but this time, he managed to kick him directly in the jaw.
This specific kick knocked him down faster then all the other times he hit the mat by Fours hand. And it was in that moment the room fell still, and silent. Not a person moved, and not a person spoke, not even in the crowd. Everybody watched Eric, and waited to see if he would stand up once again. Four even leaned down and shook him, and yet, there was no response other then his chest rising, and falling, not even a twitch could be seen. Miles steps up onto the mat, and raises Four's arm by his wrist, "ladies and gentlemen, we have our winner!" He shouts happily, and the audience bursted out with congratulating cheers.