Chapter Text
Eric sighed as he laid on his bed and tossed a knife up and down. He was bored. He had gathered up all the possible information on Jeanine's plot to take over Abnegation and 'restore' the Faction System and destroy all the Divergents. Eric snorted. If only she knew that her 'pet Dauntless spy' was actually a Divergent himself... He had actually been double-crossing her ever since she 'planted' him in Dauntless. Eric was only interested in keeping the Divergents alive. He always thought it was stupid that the Factions would be threatened by Divergents. You could plant them in other factions, use them as meditators in Factional disputes... It was just common sense to use them, not kill them! He glanced over at the clock. Dinner had been over for an hour. The Initiates were probably still roaming around the Pit. Four was probably with that other Stiff. Eric grit his teeth. Tris had a lot of potential, but he did not like how much time Four was spending with her. Probably had to do with the fact that they were both Divergents. Yeah. He knew that they were both Divergents. It was his job to sniff them out and eliminate them, however, he never reported that there were any to Jeanine. He had known that Four was a Divergent for a long time, since their Initiate Training. Tris was recent, after all, she had only been here a matter of weeks. Eric got up and went to his wardrobe. Might as well go out and do something instead of just laying around and doing nothing. He pulled on a t-shirt and shrugged on a sleeveless vest before putting on his boots. He left his apartment and headed for the Pit. As he was walking past a stairwell, he was pulled into it by his arm.
"You disappeared after dinner." Four raised an eyebrow. "Not interested in the rest of us?"
"I had enough of the Initiates for one day." Eric snorted as he rolled his eyes. "I went back to my apartment. I decided that I could do something instead of laying around. Getting pulled into empty stairwells by you wasn't on my mind but apparently should have been." Four smirked.
"Should have been." Four said before pinning Eric to the wall and kissing him.
Eric entered his apartment after his meet up with Four and then a few hours of enjoying himself. He noticed a note on his bedside table. He frowned and opened it. He paled slightly when he saw it was a summons from Jeanine. This late in the night, a summons was not good. With a feeling of dread in his stomach, he figured that he should send his gathered information off to the right people. He trudged over to his computer and started to type. After everything was in place, he sent the information to Four's secret and highly encrypted personal files. He would never know that Eric was the one to send it and that, more than likely, their previous encounter was the last one they will ever have. Hopefully, Four could stop Jeanine and save the innocents of Abnegation as well as the Divergents. Eric then went over and started to stash some weapons in various places on his body. If his gut was right, like it always was, then he would need them. He placed a note on his pillow that he had made in case of this and addressed it to Four. With a final look around his apartment, he left and locked the door with the frequency that only he and Four knew. The final evaluations were the next day and it was unlikely for Four to be searching for him. Four would check his files as soon as he gets a notification that something had changed. He took a deep breath and stuck to the shadows as he left the compound. He hopped on the train as it sped by. As he leaned against the wall of the train car, he thought back on the day's events. He thought about how the new Initates looked promising, the Stiff would definitely make it, the last tryst with Four in the stairwell, the summons from Jeanine... He sighed. This late night summons was not how he pictured his night ending. He had pictured a quiet night alone or with Four again. He had pictured actually getting a good night's rest, or not, depending on Four's presence. All too soon, the train was nearing the Fence. Eric jumped off at the right time and watched it stop to let Jeanine and some others off.
"Eric, glad you could make it." Jeanine smirked when she saw him.
"You summoned me. How could I ignore it?" He fought the urge to roll his eyes.
"Follow me Eric. We have a matter of utmost importance to talk about." She said. Eric followed behind her silently. He noted with confusion that they were heading to the ground, outside the Fence.
"Why are we leaving the Fence?" Eric asked as they stopped on the ground.
"You lied to us Eric." She said coldly. "You are a Divergent." His stomach dropped. How did she find out? Suddenly the others she brought with her grabbed him and tried to force him to the ground. "Execute him. Divergents are to be executed." She said. Eric slammed his foot down on the leg of one of his captors. The captor let go and Eric pulled out his pistol and shot the other one holding onto him. The others attacked and he shot everyone of them. He saw that there were too many for him to handle alone and Jeanine would not allow him to return to Dauntless by telling everyone that he was a Divergent. He cursed as he started to run towards the Amity compound. He would occasionally twist and shoot one of his attackers. He did that and he swerved opposite of the compound (His Dauntless nature screamed at him to protect them by not bringing his attackers into their compound.) and soon ran out of bullets. There was suddenly a searing pain in his side. He ignored it and flung a knife into his last attacker, downing him. Eric didn't stop running though. He fled farther and farther away.
Four returned back to his apartment frowning. He had gone to see Eric, only to have his door locked and Eric not answering the door. He opened the door to his apartment to be greeted with a beeping sound. Tris had her ears covered.
"It started beeping a few hours ago and wouldn't stop. I don't know where it's coming from." She ground her teeth. "Make it stop." Four swiftly moved to his computer and opened up his personal files. He gaped at what he saw. "Four? What is it?" She gasped when she saw what he's looking at. "Are those..."
"Erudite's plans to destroy Abnegation using Dauntless." Four agreed. "And Max is in on it."
"What about Eric?" She frowned.
"It says nothing about Eric. Locked door and not answering be damned, I'm getting to the bottom of whether he knows anything about it or not. Keep looking at it. See what else you can find." Four stood up and stormed away. "ERIC! OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!" Four snarled. When there was no answer, he punched in the access code. It didn't work. He tried another code. It also didn't work. This caused Four to pause. There was only one code left to try. They had created this code so that they could keep their apartments locked and only one of them could enter. It hadn't even been used unless they were having sex. He punched in the code. To his horror, it worked. "Eric?" He called as he entered the apartment. It was empty. Eric's weapon locker was open, his computer was warm to the touch and had obviously been recently used, but nothing was out of place. He noticed something on the pillow and nightstand. "Hello? What are you two?" He picked up a note that was addressed to him and an open letter. "A summons... from Jeanine? You were fucking in on it!" Four growled. He then opened the note.
'Don't hate me. I did what I had to. Don't hate me Tobias Eaton.'
"How did he know that I was..." Four shook his head. He left Eric's apartment, making sure to relock it with their special code, and went back to his own.
"Well?" Tris asked.
"He was in on it. He got a summons from Jeanine to meet her at the Fence at midnight. He wasn't at his apartment, most likely at the meeting. He also left me a note. He knows that I am Tobias Eaton. How the hell he knew that I have no clue." Four sunk down onto a chair. "What did you find out about Erudite's plans?"
"They're gonna inject all Dauntless members with a tracker that will control them, making the mindless soldiers after the final tests tomorrow. It's supposed to also weed out the Divergents. Peter will not be given one. Then, the Dauntless will be ordered to attack Abnegation. We can even strike tomorrow. All we have to do is hand around and we can destroy the program before anyone gets hurt." Tris rubbed her head. "There's even a list of Divergents in Dauntless."
"Who sent this? I have never told anyone about these files. How did they know about this?" Four sighed.
"Four... We're on this list of Divergents." Tris met his eyes. "Someone knows we're Divergent."
"Put your hands where we can see them, Jeanine!" Four yelled as he, Tris, her brother, and several Divergents cornered her in her lab in the Dauntless Compound.
"How? THAT NO GOOD LYING DIVERGENT RAT!" She screamed as she seemed to come to a realization. "HE DOUBLE CROSSED US!"
"Who did?" Tris asked as she moved forwards.
"If whoever he was was Divergent, it doesn't surprise me that he double-crossed you." Four snorted.
"It doesn't matter anyways. He's good as dead anyways." She sniffed. "Besides, you can't stop the serum. You have no idea and I will never stop it." Four smirked and went and disabled it.
"This Divergent also showed us how to stop and destroy your precious serum." Tris grinned. "Now, who was this double-crossing Divergent?"
"You'll never see him again, Four! He's good as dead!" Jeanine screamed as she was taken away.
"Caleb, why don't you head to Erudite and start looking through their files? We should know what they have found out." Tris said. "Four and I will arrest Max and the others for attempted mass murder and disrupting the Factions. Then, Four will assume leadership of Dauntless and Caleb, you can lead Erudite."
"Okay, Tris. Be Careful." Caleb said.
"Hey Four, you're gonna want to see this." Caleb ran after the new Dauntless leader.
"What is it Caleb, I need to speak to Dauntless." Four said.
"That Divergent Jeanine was talking about, her Dauntless 'spy', was named Eric. He helped you train this year's Initiates." Caleb said.
"Son of a bitch. The night before finals, I went to his place. He wasn't there. I went back to mine where Tris was staying after some other Initiates tried to kill her and I got a bunch of files that told Erudite's plans. I went back to Eric's to see if he was in on it. I had to use an extremely secret and hardly ever used code to get in that only we knew. I found a summons from Jeanine and a note that said 'Don't hate me. I did what I had to do. Don't hate me Tobias Eaton.'." Four cursed. "This whole thing was a ruse."
"You're really not gonna like this. Jeanine somehow found out that Eric was a Divergent. She ordered his execution that night. Nothing else is said except for the next day when she documented the Dauntless Divergent problem is finished." Caleb said. Four cursed really loudly.
"I need to tell Dauntless about this, but I'm going to Jeanine to get the facts about that night first. I need to be able to tell Dauntless that the one who risked his life to keep them from becoming murderers is either alive or dead." Four was beyond pissed.
"He's good as dead, Four. You'll never see him again." Jeanine smirked from her prison cell.
"Tell me what happened, Jeanine. Tell me what happened." Four growled. He grabbed her by the throat. "I am not in the mood for playing games."
"He was at the meeting place at the correct time. He followed me to the ground outside of the Fence and only asked why were we outside of the Fence. I ordered his execution. He fought back. He escaped, but was pursued. He used up all his bullets. He was shot in the side, gushed blood out of that wound. He knifed the last of my men. He ran farther away from the city and the Amity compound. He'll have bled out in a day. Even if he somehow didn't, the infection would get him or some monster animal." Jeanine grinned evilly.
"So he could be alive for all you know..." Four muttered. He stood up and left.
The Dauntless members were uneasy. They had just been almost made to kill an entire Faction and their leader was one of the ring leaders. There was a screeching noise.
"DAUNTLESS! I know today's been shocking and nerve wracking. You are probably wondering why were you stopped and how those of us that stopped you were able to stop you and were immune to the serum." Four began. "We that stopped you, with the exception of the new Erudite leader, Caleb Prior, are Divergent. Divergents will no longer be hunted down. Divergents aren't a danger to society. As to how we were able to stop you, that lies solely with files gathered from a man with years of being a 'spy' on Dauntless, who actually was spying on Erudite, a secret Divergent, Eric. Eric, who you all know as the second in my year's initiates and helped me train this year's initiates, was supposedly planted here by Erudite to act as a spy. He spied on them instead and fed them false information. The night before Final Evaluations, Eric received a summons from Jeanine. He answered it and found out that Jeanine knew he was Divergent. She ordered his execution." Four paused for the outcry of horror to finish.
"Is he dead?" Christina yelled.
"Has his body been found?" Another Dauntless yelled out.
"We have no idea whether or not he is alive. As any Dauntless would do, he fought back. He killed most of his attackers before running away from the city and the Amity Compound. He must have known Jeanine wouldn't have let him return and that there were too many for him to fight his way back into the city. He killed the rest of the attackers as he ran until there was one left. That one got a lucky shot off where it tore into Eric's side. He knifed him and kept on running. This was a serious wound, as Jeanine could see it gushing blood from the Fence. He could have died from blood loss, infection, or attack from what is out there. He could still be alive and miraculously found by a kind soul who is healing him. We don't know. We are beginning a search for him in the morning. Anyone who wants to join is welcome." Four said. "We might find him or his body tomorrow or never, but we still must try for what he's done for all of us. After all, if he had not sent those files, Abnegation would more than likely be destroyed and Dauntless would all be murderers and every Divergent would be dead." Four said.
Eric ran as fast as his legs would carry him away from his home. He finally stopped as the sun reached its peak. His side was burning and he was light headed. he growled as he saw the bullet wound. He needed help, but no one was around. He ripped a strip of his tank-top off and used it to bind the wound. It would do for now. He was getting dehydrated. He began to walk again. He wandered for another few days until he stumbled into a field where some people were. He collapsed from dehydration and blood loss. The last thing he saw before everything went black was a pale face framed by red-blonde hair and blue eyes, lips moving without sound.