*

Ana winced in pain, gritting her teeth together as the nurse ran her fingers over her shoulder. She had gotten back from the game and was told to go straight to the hospital. She was quickly growing annoyed - she'd been there for a while and they'd barely even touched her shoulder. All they had to do was pop it back into place.

If she'd known it'd take this long, she would have had one of her friends do it.

She wandered to the compound to meet with her friends after her shoulder had been fixed. Christina, Al and Will were all conversing amongst themselves, holding cups in their hands and laughing.

Christina was the first to spot Ana, waving her over when she did. Ana joined them with a smile, taking the cup that Will offered her. She eyed the yellow liquid before looking to her friend. "What is this?"

"Beer." Will answered. "Try it."

She brought it to her mouth, taking a sip of the alcohol before pulling the cup back and wrinkling her nose. "That's disgusting. How are you drinking it?"

"You don't notice the taste after a while." Christina laughed.

Ana only sat the cup down on the nearest surface. "Have you seen Tris?"

"She was talking to Four." Al said, looking down at the ground. "I didn't see where she went after."

Ana hummed. "I'm going to find something else to drink. Do you guys need anything?"

After her friends said no, she wandered around the compound, trying to find where the rest of the drinks were. She finally found it, and poured herself a glass of water. Ana leaned against the wall of the compound, watching the people as they conversed amongst each other.

Most people in the compound were older Dauntless members, though some of the leaders and initiates milled around. She didn't see Tris or any of the Dauntless-born initiates she met during the game and wondered where they'd have went.

"Amity!" Ana closed her eyes, mumbling under her breath as Eric approached her. When she reopened her eyes, she saw he had a cup in his hand, no doubt holding the beer her friends had been drinking.

He smiled lazily when he stopped in front of her. "Amity."

She crossed her arms over her chest, staring up at him with a bored expression. "Can I help you?"

His blue eyes drifted from her face to her shoulder. He lifted his fingers, trailing them across the top of her bone, so softly that Ana almost couldn't feel them. "Are you okay?"

His voice was as gentle as his touch and Ana suppressed a shiver as he spoke. Her eyes moved back to the alcohol in his hand and she huffed, knowing it was the only reason he was being kind to her. "Fine."

"I'm sorry." His eyes bore through her own. "For falling on you."

"It's fine." Ana answered, and Eric's arm fell back to his side. "Are you okay?"

He shrugged. "It's not the first time I've been hit."

His blue eyes moved past her and Eric sighed deeply before he looked back at her, stepping even closer. "The second stage of training is intense. You need to prepare yourself."

"What?" Ana frowned, nearly flinching back from him, but she stood her ground. "How?"

"I can't tell you more." He stood straighter, eyes moving past her once more. "I think your friends are waiting for you."

Ana turned, looking to see her three friends watching her and Eric. She turned back to him again, planning to ask him what the next stage would be.

He was gone when she looked back.

*

"Listen up!"

The first stage of training was officially over. Ana was ecstatic. She didn't mind fighting or learning to use weapons, but her muscles needed some sort of break. She had toned up quickly in the past few weeks, leaving her waist slimmer and her arms more muscular.

"If you ranked above the red line, you'll move onto the second stage of training. If you're below it, we'll waste no more time on you." Max motioned to the board behind him. "Here are your rankings."

Ana's green eyes roamed over the board, holding her breath as she searched for her name. A sigh of relief left her when she saw it, sitting in sixth place on the leaderboard. Will was in fifth, Christina in ninth. Al and Tris were close to being over the line, but Ana was happy to see that they made it.

"You made it, Tris!" Ana exclaimed. "We all made it!"

"Congrats Stiff." Peter's voice infiltrated their moment and the two girls turned to stare at him. His usual ugly smirk was on his face, holding a piece of newspaper in his hand. Will moved over to the girls, Al and Christina following.

"Back off, Peter." Ana spat at him, glaring as he smiled wider.

"She's famous now, right? Didn't you see the paper?" He looked down as he began to read. "The recent transfers of Abnegation, Beatrice and Caleb Prior, children of Andrew Prior, call into question the soundness of Abnegation's teachings and values. What prompted them to leave?"

"Perhaps the answer lies in the corrupted ideal of an entire fraction. Their theft of resources, their general incompetence, the abuse of their children." Peter stalked closer, holding the paper out to Tris. "Did they beat you, like Marcus Eaton's kid?"

Ana was ready to hit him, tell him to fuck off and go pick on someone else. Tris turned to him. "They didn't beat anyone. They're good people."

"Right." He scoffed. "And that's why you left?"

Tris only turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Peter laughing to himself. "Was it something I said?"

Ana yanked the paper from his hands, before pushing him back. "Go find something better to do."

"Bitch." He spat as Ana walked away.

"Very original." She called back, throwing the paper in a trashcan as she moved away from him.

She met up with her friends again, ready to hear what they would be doing for the day. They were only told to head outside and begin unloading supplies. Her friends complained the whole way there, obviously thinking they'd be doing something better than unloading trucks. "So we passed the first stage of training and this is our reward. Glamorous."

Ana had to agree with her, but she didn't voice her opinion. Instead, when they made it outside, her eyes grew wide and she felt her heart stop in her chest. The trucks they'd be unloading were from Amity. Her father was there.

She stayed where she was, trying to see which truck her dad would be at. Her mother wasn't there, unfortunately - she didn't travel to the other compounds to deliver supplies - but she was happy to see a part of her family.

Ana finally caught a glimpse of him, in a red button down shirt and khaki pants. A black wide-brimmed hat sat on his head and she smiled as she watched him. She excused herself from her friends and walked over to the truck to begin helping.

He didn't notice her at first, but after unloading a few boxes, he turned and locked eyes with her. Her dad stopped for a moment, almost as if he was trying to process that his daughter was right in front of her. But then he smiled and pulled her into his arms.

"Annabella." He said softly before he pulled back and looked at her. "Look at you. You're one of them."

"I am." She said with a smile. She didn't bother telling him what she went by now - it had been too long since she heard her full name and she missed it. "How are you? How are mom and Chandler?"

"Good." Mr. Beckett nodded. "They miss you. We all do."

"I miss you guys too." Ana breathed before looking around at her faction members. "But I'm really, really happy here."

"I know." Her father smiled at Ana and opened his mouth to talk again when Ana felt someone step behind her. She turned her head, meeting Eric's hard stare as he looked between her and her father.

Her smile fell and she released her father. "You have work to do, Amity. Do it."

Ana felt her cheeks flush and she turned back to her father to squeeze him tightly. "I love you. Tell mom and Chandler. Visiting day is soon. Please come."

"We will." Mr. Beckett promised. "Goodbye, Annabella."

Eric walked behind her as she moved to another truck to start unloading. He didn't say a word to her, instead he watched her unload boxes. Ana grumbled under her breath before she turned to look at him. "Can I help you?"

"Are you regretting your decision to come here? Do you miss your family too much?" He asked, his deep voice cold. "It's not too late to kick you out - initiation isn't over."

Ana scoffed at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "What is your problem? I don't regret coming here, but he's my father. I wasn't going to act like he wasn't here."

"Faction before blood." Eric reminded her and she rolled her eyes at him. "Remember that on Visiting Day. You chose Dauntless for a reason."

"Yes, I chose Dauntless because I'm meant to be here." Ana said to him, going back to unloading the supplies from the truck. "Just because you don't seem to care about anyone, doesn't mean I can't care about my family anymore."

Eric laughed at her, shaking his head as he did so. "You don't get it, do you, Amity?" He laughed again, this time to himself. "Get back to work."

He walked away from her and Ana watched him go, frowning as she did. It was obvious the kind Eric from the night before was gone now. She shook her head with a sigh, clearing her thoughts as she stacked another box.

***

Sorry for the short chapter!

pleuvoirx