*

Heavy pants fell out of Ana's mouth as she jogged beside Christina and Tris. The three were near the back of the group, not really caring about how fast they were running. It was their second official day of training. Yesterday they had really only been shown the punching bags and shown how to properly use them.

Now, they were jogging with Four around the Dauntless compound. They had barely woken up an hour ago and Ana was already ready to crawl back in bed. She hated being woken up before the sun was even up.

Their group slowed to a stop as they exited the compound. Four gathered them around, pointing at a group of people near the faction. Ana looked at Four with lowered eyebrows, wondering why he was showing them these people.

"Factionless." He began. "Not doing anything."

Ana felt an arm drape around her shoulder, sneering when she saw it was Peter. He had an ugly smirk on his face as he addressed her and Tris. "Check it out you two. That's gonna be your new family."

"Fuck off Peter." Ana nudged his arm off of her, harshly. "Neither of us will be living with the factionless. Can't say the same for you, though."

She smiled at him mockingly, causing the boy's face to turn red. He jabbed a finger at her, ready to tell her off when Four called for them to continue running. "We'll see about that pansycake."

Ana rolled her eyes at the nickname, waiting for Peter to jog in front of her before she followed. Tris bumped her with her elbow as they ran, shooting her a smile when Ana looked at her. "You really piss him off, you know?"

"He pisses me off." Ana grumbled. "I'm not a pansycake."

"Not anymore." Christina snickered beside her.

Ana ignored the ex-Candor, instead pushing herself to run faster so she wasn't beside them anymore. Their comments had upset her more than she cared to admit. She wasn't Amity anymore - truthfully she had never felt like an Amity. She was going to be Dauntless - it shouldn't have mattered what faction she came from.

When they reached the training room, Ana rested her hands on her knees, drawing in deep breaths as she did so. Her blonde hair was tied back in a pony tail, but small strands still stuck to her sweaty forehead. Al stood beside her, hands behind his head as he tried to catch his breath as well. "I think they're trying to kill us."

Ana laughed. "Not yet, they aren't."

"Okay." Four spoke loudly. "Next, we're going to be working on your physical strength. For the physical stage, you will have to fight each other. You want to be ready for that. Remember what we told you yesterday about the punching bags. You may begin."

Al and Ana found bags close to each other before they began. Ana watched as Al started to strike the bag, taking note of his form as he swung. She widened her stance and raised her hands to her face before she hit the bag. Her face turned red when the bag didn't move.

Al chuckled beside her. "You may want to hit it a little harder than that."

"I did hit it hard." She said, sheepishly. She tried again, this time trying to hit the bag harder. She moved her body into the punch this time and smiled when the bag moved from side to side. "Sweet!"

"How did you make it swing like that?" Al asked with wide eyes. His only swayed slightly.

Ana shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I threw my weight into my punch I think."

Al hummed, turning his attention back to the bag and punched it. It moved more this time, though not as much as Ana's had a moment ago. He didn't say anything as he adverted his gaze. Ana turned her focus back to punching the bag, feeling prouder the more she hit it. She felt like she was getting the hang of it - until she looked up.

Across the training room was Eric. He was leaning against the wall, one leg raised against it and his strong arms crossed over his chest. His gray eyes were piercing into Ana's and she felt herself becoming shy. Why was he looking at her like that? Was she doing something wrong? Did she look like an idiot?

She looked away, blinking quickly to try and clear her thoughts. He was probably just evaluating her like he did with all the initiates. She raised her fists again, throwing it towards the bag.

"You're not doing it right." A deep voice behind her made her jump. She turned her head, flinching back when she noticed how close the leader was to her. He had a deep frown on his face as he stared down at her. How did she not notice him coming over to her?

"W-What?" Her voice was small and she wanted to kick herself for how pathetic she sounded.

"You're doing it wrong." He spoke as if he was speaking to a child and Ana wanted to punch him instead of the bag. She rolled her eyes at him and began to turn away when he grabbed her waist. She gasped at him, but allowed him to show her what to do.

"Tighten your core when you throw the punch." He said quietly. His lips were close to her ear as he spoke. Ana could feel his arm breath against her cheek, causing her arms to breaks out in chills. "Try again."

His hands slipped off of her waist and he nodded towards the bag. She turned away from him, doing as he said and punching the bag once again. She was able to hit the bag with more force and smiled widely. When she turned around to thank him, he was gone.

___

Their training session was interrupted for lunch, which Ana and her friends were very happy about. Ana's hands hurt after punching the bag for what felt like hours. She could already see small bruises forming on her knuckles.

Ana spooned a bite of food into her mouth, keeping quiet as she listened to the conversation around her. Her mind had wandered to Eric and how he had helped her earlier. He was even more attractive up close. His pale eyes popped out against his blonde hair. His lips were full and pouty, though they appeared to be pulled down in a frown.

"I'm exhausted." Christina groaned as she pushed her plate away from her to lay her head on the table. Ana smiled at her friend's dramatic attitude, taking another bite of the salad she had got.

"We still have another round to go through today." She reminded her. "I think Four said we're throwing knives."

"I think that's tomorrow." Will was shaking his head. "I think we're fighting more today."

Tris frowned. "Like with the punching bags, or actual fighting?"

Will only shrugged. "I guess we'll find out."

Ana sagged her shoulders, stabbing her fork into her plate. No one was ready to fight today - or at least she wasn't. She was just getting the hang of punching the bags, but the bags were no where close to a real person.

What if she was put up against Peter? Or one of her friends?

When they met back up for training, they were instructed to start on the punching bags again. This time, instead of her fists, she used her arms to attack it at well. She made sure to follow Eric's advice, and kept tension in her stomach the whole time she swung.

"First jumper!" A voice boomed across the room. Ana turned to see Eric and Four in the fighting area. She looked to Tris, whose eyes were wide with worry. "In the ring."

Eric called the last jumper up next. Ana watched as a bigger girl walked up to the ring, clearly not worried about what was going to happen. The girl had short brown hair and she stood a few inches taller than Tris. Ana couldn't remember the girl's name, but she had seen her hanging around with Peter.

This wasn't going to end well for Tris.

"It's time to fight." Eric announced as Ana was joined by Christina and Al. Will stood next to Christina, but shot all of them nervous glances.

"How long do we fight for?" The girl asked, glancing down at Tris.

"Until one of you can't continue." Eric says in a bored tone.

Four stepped forward. "Or until one of you concedes."

"According to the old rules." Eric was rolling his eyes at Four now. "New rules, no one concedes."

The two leaders seemed to be exchange a few words between each other. Ana watched the two from the corner of her eye. Whatever Four had said seemed to piss Eric off. "You guys will be scored on this so fight hard."

He moved to lean against a pole, crossing his arms once again. Ana forced her eyes away from him to look at Tris and the other girl. The girl had lowered herself into a fighting position, causing Tris to follow her action. She looked very nervous, glancing back to Four and Eric.

"Go." Eric threw his arm out, waiting for the fight to start. His eyes floated back to Ana, who quickly looked away from him.

"Don't be scared, Stiff!" Peter's voice echoed as the girls began to circle the ring. Ana threw him a scowl, which he only smiled at. "Just think, pansycake. Maybe you and I will be the next ones in the ring."

"Are you really ready to lose to a girl?" Ana turned her body to him. Her dark brows were raised as she waited for an answer.

Peter laughed at her. "I won't be losing to a girl. Especially a girl like you."

"What do you mean by that?" She asked, clearly offended. "You think a girl from Amity couldn't kick your ass?"

"Initiates." Eric's voice cut through their arguing. "Shut up."

Ana rolled her eyes, mumbling underneath her breath. She caught Eric's eye and she was almost convinced that he looked amused. Almost - he had looked away before she could actually tell. She looked back towards Tris, who had managed to land a hit to the other girl. "Go Tris!"

Eric frowned at Ana, but she paid him no attention as she watched her friend in the ring. Christina cheered beside her, urging the Abnegation girl on. The events turned quickly as the other girl punched Tris in the face, causing her to fall backwards. The other girl stopped, looking towards Eric to see what she was supposed to do.

To Ana's surprise, Eric only urged the girl on. Ana leaned forward, gasping when she saw the girl raise her leg to kick Tris in the face, properly knocking her unconscious.

***

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