Empty With You

The room was slightly cold as we walked inside. There were a few mats in the middle of the room and punching bags on the other side. Amar lead us to the middle of the room as he took a spot on one of the floors as all of us gathered around the room.

"This is where you'll be facing each other in hand to hand combat," Amar spoke over all of us. "You'll be placed in matches against one another and fight until the other concedes. You'll also report to the range behind you, where you'll work on your knife throwing skills."

"Knives?" Some girl questioned with a laugh. "Shouldn't we be using guns?"

"Idiot," I mumbled as Eric nudged me slightly.

"Yes we will," Amar spoke up above the crowd. "We'll be in the shooting range in a couple days where you'll learn how to shoot and be acurate."

"Should be easy," I whispered towards Eric as he rolled his eyes at me.

"Alright," Amar continued. "Our first day will be in here, learning how to throw knives for the first half and the last half of the day will be purely phsyical."

The room let out an low groan at the thought of physical activity. I didn't mind it, it meant being out of the underground and being in the city to be able to run. Finally something exciting to start off and end the day with, that didn't get me in trouble.

The group all headed in the direction Amar was taking us to this makeshift knife throwing range thing, complete with targets and a table full of knives. When we got there, another leader or instructor standing next to the table.

I walked past Four with Eric and stood with a few other new inititates along the line of the target.

"This is Blair," Amar motioned to the man, tall, slender, black spikey hair, and a tattoo that crawled up the side of his neck. "He is one of the best knife throwers and archers in Dauntless."

I let out a laugh that I couldn't hold in much longer as Eric shot me a look and shook his head.

"Something funny?" Amar looked towards me with a hint of anger on his face.

"No sir," I looked down at Amar gave me a look.

Blair took his place in front of a target after Amar nodded to him. He started throwing his knives against the board which echoed through the room. He was concentrating...awfully hard too. It was quite amusing. It was like watching someone try too hard. And his accuracy wasn't even that great.

Amar went on to show us how it's done which I wasn't paying attention to. All I kept thinking about is if they could see my hidden blade and how I wished to use it, but I knew that would raise questions.

Amar let us start throwing ourselves which I knew I had "dumb down" what I knew how to do but couldn't. It was more natural than anyone might think. The first blade I threw I made miss on purpose and it honestly angered me. That's when I felt myself throwing the next few blades, making them hit the target right in the heart.

I knew the room was watching but didn't care. I slowly closed my eyes and threw the last blade at the target and heard it hit then the sounds of the others whisering amongst themselves too.

"What's your name?" Amar stood in front of me as my eyes met his.

"Ariana," I mentioned as he crossed his arms in front of me.

"What faction were you in, Ariana?" Amar's voice dripped venom as I kept eye contact.

"Does it matter?" I watched him . "I'm Dauntless."

"No Dauntless has ever just picked up on throwing," Blair mentioned from behind me.

"Guess I'm the exception, huh?" I shrugged.

"Seems that way," Amar glared. "Alright everyone, take a break. Except you."

"Me?" I questioned as I looked at him. "What did I do?"

"Since you're so good at this, you'll go up against Blair, just to prove how good you are," Amar crossed me as I heard the collective "oooh" from everyone else and whispers again.

"Fine," I rolled my eyes as I walked to the table and Eric walked over to me.

"What are you doing?" He harshly whispsered. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"I'm not about to let him push me around just because his pride got hurt," I mentioned as my fingers ran over a new set of blades.

"He's a Dauntless instructor and you're, well you're an initiate," Eric pleaded. "I know you're good. Everyone else will know that in time but please for the love of everything, let him win."

"We'll see," I looked up at Eric to see the actual fear in his eyes as I picked up a blade.

"Ariana," Eric mentioned as I turned away from him.

He was legit worried and scared for me. I could tell by the tone of his voice and the look on his face. Maybe he was right, maybe he was wrong. I couldn't exactly end up dead or kicked out of Dauntless this early but it was my pride that was on the line too if I just let someone win.

Blair took his place next to me as he twirled a blade in his fingers. I just rolled my eyes slightly as he tried to look tough but it wasn't working, he just looked stupid.

"Rules are, the person to get the most blades closest to their target's heart in one minute will be the one who gets bragging rights," Amar spoke as I picked up the blade. "And go!"

I threw the first few blades effortlessly through the air, hitting the exact same spot everytime while Blair was falling short of his target. I was about to throw a few more to stick when I caught Eric and Four's eyes which had that look of fear and panic on them. I took a deep breath and barely threw the blades so they hit towards the leg and then one hit close to the head.

"Time!" Amar called as he walked to the boards to gather the information and turned towards everyone. "The winner, Blair!"

"By a landslide!" Blair celebrated as I rolled my eyes at him. "Know your place, inititate."

"I have a name," I gritted my teeth at him.

"Alright, everyone break before we head to the roof," Amar mentioned as I collected my blades.

Everyone scattered in their own direction as I went to pick up my blades. I gathered all of them before turning quickly and releasing one into the wood that hit with a sickening crack right in the heart.

"You let him win," Eric crossed his arms as my eyes met his.

"I did," I nodded. "Wait, I mean, no I'm a horrible student that knows nothing."

"Thank you," Eric mentioned as I walked past him slightly. "For letting him win."

"I didn't want to," I stopped as I turned to look at him.

"What changed your mind?" Eric questioned.

"I don't know," I ran a hand over my hair. "I see the look in your eyes, then I got to thinking. And if it meant a lot to you that I wasn't stupid, then I didn't do it. And then there's our son, we're going to find him one day and I'm doing that alive."

"You're better than he is," Eric took my hand to pull me into him slowly. "You're braver than he is too. It takes a lot to bow out like that."

"Thank you," I smiled lightly as his lips reached down to touch mine. "God, I missed that."

"Me too," He smirked as he went to kiss me again. "Wanna know what else I missed?"

"Oh I know, but we still don't have time," I smirked at him as my hips went up to go around his neck.

"Tonight?" Eric raised an eyebrow.

"Of course," I smirked as I kissed him again. "I actually know of a place. As long as you're up to sneaking out for a while and being out of this compound."

"Normally a guy would be worried or afraid to," Eric smiled down at me. "But I've known you far too long to know you can get around this town without getting caught or changing your mind."

"It only took you how long?" I smirked at him.

"Come on," He rolled his eyes at me. "Let's get to the roof before we get in trouble."

The two of us went to the roof to join shooting practice, then got a lunch break before heading to the rest of training, dinner, and then training for a while longer. Once everyone was back in their dorms, Eric and I made our escape down the Dauntless halls and outside to the street where a few buildings lined the city.

We quietly snuck past a few guards before reaching a building where I led Eric up the stairs to the roof of the building. I took in a deep breath of air as Eric joined me on the roof and took in his surroundings.

We were surrouned by old lights that decorated the sky. The cool wind blew across the building on the the peaceful night.

"Beautiful isn't it?" I questioned as I watched Eric.

"Very," He mentioned as he walked closer to me.

"I came here a few times to think," I mentioned as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I wanted to share it with you."

"I'm glad you did," He let his hands rest on my hips.

"So hey," I smirked at him.

"Hey," He smiled and leant down to kiss me.

Our kisses turned into many, reach resulted in our clothes slowly starting to fall while we headed into the darkness of the building. It was a perfect end to the night. One that I wanted to remember for a while since tomorrow started hand to hand combat training and that was something that I wasn't exactly looking forward to.