XXVII

 "I will be right to you,

And together we can stand up to the beast

You see...Suppression is a mother fucking prison

So I hand you the key to your cell"

"Beast" -Nico Vega

Eric nodded, the woman speaking to him was going on and on and just wouldn't let up. She had walked with him, giving him all the important information on each new initiate. It was a tedious thing to go through, but he was always thorough about it because key information about whether or not these kids were Divergent might show up in those reports. But he did not need this woman, basically a secretary, to read it to him verbatim. She wouldn't stop, she was so surprised about this Tobias Eaton kid who had left Abnegation. It interested Eric, yes, but he could just read it himself in the privacy of his home, as he always did.

"Allison," he stopped her, his hand was on his unlocked door knob, the door inching open, "I'm perfectly capable of reading it myself, please."

Allison blushed and babbled on, "Oh yes, I know you are, of course you are, Eric. What kind of leader would you be if you weren't?"

"A very daft one." he growled, throwing a mockery at her that she didn't catch. He opened the door about a foot, and Allison grabbed his hand.

"I didn't mean to follow you all this way, Eric." The papers shook in her hand.

Harper heard voices and quickly exited the file, making sure that it was marked as "unseen" on the computer, as it had been brand new when she opened it. She sorted the papers so that they looked neat and rushed over to the living room area, flopping down on the white leather couch and trying to calm herself down. Not only had she just read something that terrified her and made her want to go warn Tobias right off the bat, she had almost gotten caught doing it. Eric was halfway in his house before she had even realized that he was there; if she had to pull something like this again, she would have to be a lot more discreet and cautious about it. Whoever was holding Eric up at the door had probably just saved her life.

Eric narrowed his eyelids. "Get to the point or leave."

"I just... I really like you..."

Eric laughed, shook his head. "Sorry, Allison."

And his entered his house, closing the door in her face and being delightfully surprised to see Harper. She was sitting on the couch, leaning back against the arm with her legs out along the length of the seat. Eric walked to the back of the couch and leaned over to kiss her lips. She brought her hand up behind his head and held him their while their tongues danced, and she only released him when she had a good enough reason to explain her raised heart rate. It had gone down, already, but kissing Eric always got her excited, everything would now appear normal to him.

"I didn't expect you today," he said as he pulled back.

Harper shrugged, "I'll be heading down to the mess hall for dinner, see if I can hear anything about my initiates. Are you doing a speech?"

"Something like that." He glanced down at the papers in his hand and pressed his lips tightly together, and walked over to his desk. All that important information was always sprawled out over his desk and he wondered if Harper ever felt inclined to look. When he arrived at the desk, he flopped down the papers and glanced at Harper.

Harper knew that she had been caught. But she remained where she was, her eyes on Eric. This was not a healthy way to live, and she never wanted to go through his stuff again. And yet, she had found very important information to her cause, proof that Jeanine was plotting to kill Divergents', plotting to kill Abnegation using a serum to control Dauntless. But people like Eliza, they could not be controlled, they were the key. Harper held on to that, knowing that one day she might be relying on Eliza to save her life and protect her. She wondered if Eliza would be able to do it.

Eric left his desk and sat down on the couch, Harper had to pull her legs in to give him room, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't been caught, she was just on edge. Stretching her arms over her head, both of them having accumulated more tattoos over the last year, she wondered what made her stay with Eric. She would be so much better off without him, and yet she couldn't bear to think about being apart from him. They had fun together, they worked together perfectly, for now. Down Harper's left arm was solid black tattoos that varied in thickness, circles that wrapped around her arm. She had three on her bicep, one thicker than the other two, and further down her arm she had five more, and one of them was broken up. On her right arm she had a crescent moon and a spiral sun design, the sun above the moon on her forearm.

"I have some things to do," Eric said, glancing at Harper with a hint of guilt.

But Harper was glad, she could get out of there, relay back what she knew to Carson, and relax a little. She couldn't have left on her own, as it would look too suspicious that she was simply in his apartment and would leave right after he got there. She gave a half smile. "Can I see you tonight then?"

"Of course." He nodded. "This time of year is busy, for both of us."

"I hope I do well," she said, authentic about her worry.

"I'll come by tomorrow," he said. "Oversee some of the training."

Harper didn't want that. "You know you aren't the most welcoming person, right?"

He grinned. "I'll see you tonight."

When Harper left, Eric went straight to his computer, but stopped at the edge of his desk. The chair was pulled out, and he always left it pushed in. His fingertips touched the back of the chair and he slowly pushed it back where it belonged, and then he put it together. Glancing over his shoulder, towards the door Harper had walked out of no more than two minutes ago, he narrowed his eyes. Had she been snooping? Surely not... But then he remembered everything Jeanine had told him, that he had to keep an eye on her, and he began to feel a sense of worry. He was banking on Harper being what he hoped she was, able to see the right side, the benefits to what he was going to do. He tried to shake the thought that she had gone through his stuff, but it remained in his mind.

***

Training was about to begin, and Harper felt excited but with an underlying feeling of regret. She had spent the night with Eric and he seemed to act slightly hostile towards her, in very, very subtle ways. It was impossible to shake the feeling when she knew that she had done something to invade Eric's privacy, she had learned things she didn't want to know, and yet it was necessary for her to know it. Carson was there with her, and had been informed by Harper about what she had learned in the file on Eric's computer, and both of them were unsure on what to do.

"Listen up initiates," Harper said in a loud voice that carried over the gymnasium, "I'm going to break you down to your weakest, only then can you come back at your strongest. You're going to want to give up, but you won't. If you do, you might as well leave now."

A few people mumbled; Harper spotted Eric in the distance, by the door.

"Does anyone have any fighting skills? Or think they do?" she asked, and no one put up their hands. She sighed, but it was what she expected. "Alright, everyone pair up. You're going to learn how to spar, how to throw a punch, and how to take one."

The day was long, Harper spent the entire training session working on posture and form, spending time with each initiate. She learned all of their names, and didn't even notice when Eric disappeared. When she was working with Tobias, she couldn't help but think of how much he was in danger. Already the catalyst for Jeanine's propaganda, she thought about the weight that would put on his shoulders. She had experienced something similar, Jeanine had targeted her because of her own father, now Tobias was about to face the same thing, only worse. His father was still alive, and he was the leader of a faction.

Tobias wasn't much of a talker, and yet Harper had a million questions that she couldn't ask him. Instead, they sparred and she hardly had anything to say about his fighting skills. He had them, and he was already her most promising initiate, and somehow that didn't surprise her. She had the pads on her hands, and Tobias was wearing the gloves, landing blow after blow, breathing properly. It wasn't until they were both sweating and panting that Harper realized the day was coming to an end. She noticed the others looking tired, worn down, and knew just how well they were going to sleep that night.

"So, still skeptical about being trained by a rookie?" Harper asked.

Tobias didn't crack a smile with his lips, but it was there in his eyes. "Only a little."

Before she could retort, Eric came in, his booming voice filling the room. "Transfers! I have something important to say."

Tobias's expression changed, his facial features tightened.

"You will be scored as you train, if you are in the bottom ten, don't expect a quality job in this faction." He explained, "We only want the best protecting our factions, and those of you who are considered the worst will be stuck with the dead end jobs. You chose our faction, and to belong, we expect you to give your everything."

"That's new," Harper muttered to herself, but Tobias heard and glanced at her for a brief second.

"We have someone special here with us this year," Eric went on, and Harper felt her stomach churn as Eric came over in her and Tobias' direction. "Tobias Eaton, son of Marcus Eaton."

When Eric was close, he narrowed his eyes. "What place does a Stiff have in a faction for the brave?"

Tobias had a good answer; "Bravery is derived from selflessness, you'd know that if you ever had to give up your own safety for someone else."

Eric widened his eyes, a dangerous smile on his lips. He laughed. "The Stiff thinks he's brave for choosing Dauntless. Brave for leaving an abusive father. Tell me, Tobias, why didn't you kill him instead? Wouldn't that have been the brave thing to do?"

"Eric, that's enough," Harper stood up to him.

"Killing people doesn't make you brave." Tobias stated, not needing Harper to stand up for him. "Killing anyone who wrongs you makes you weak, a coward who is afraid of being challenged."

Harper felt her heart sink for Tobias; he didn't deny the allegations against his father, which made her believe that they were indeed true. There was no proof, of course, but if his father was a good person, wouldn't he defend him? She got between the two before Eric could retort, and placed a hand on either of their chests. "Boys, let's break it up before things get ugly."

"Whatever you say, Von Treese. Good luck with this one," he said bitterly. 

This time, she sensed something in his voice that she didn't like. He had been rude to her before for public image, for show, but she didn't like the way he spoke to her here. He stepped away and Harper's hand fell from his chest, and he turned and left.

Harper let out a breath. "He's going to try and break you."

"He can try," Tobias replied, and Harper had confidence in him. She saw something of what she had wanted to be in him, perhaps he was the one who could be stronger than her, the one who could do what she couldn't. She knew then that Tobias was her golden student, and she was going to prepare him for what was going to come, she was going to have him stand up to Eric when she might fail.