"Listen up, initiates," Eric's voice booms, successfully silencing the entire room. "Instead of making you all come back this afternoon, we're going to inject you with a stronger serum, one that will make you go through two fears instead of one."

"We thought it would be better to let you adjust to one or two fears at a time," Four says, "before putting you through all of them at once. And the average person has twelve to fifteen fears, so that's a lot of fears to go through it one sitting."

"What's the least amount of fears someone has gotten?" Thomas says, from his spot at the back of the room.

Jillian and Reid sit next to him, looking anything but happy. I haven't really seen much of them lately. Waiting for our fear landscapes is really the only time I see them. They're not allowed in the dormitory, and I haven't seen them during meal times. Thankfully, they haven't tried bothering me anymore. I'm hoping they've learned their lesson and won't do that to anyone else.

Jillian, Reid, and Thomas are supposed to sit at the back of the room. Eric told me that he has a friend that works in the control room that monitors the three of them while Eric is in the fear landscape room. There are cameras and microphones near where they're sitting, so if they were planning to do anything, there would be proof.

"Four," Eric answers, his mouth set in a straight line.

"Is that why Four's name is Four?"

Honestly, I had been wondering why his name was Four ever since he first introduced himself. I'm glad Thomas asked about lowest number of fears, because I probably wouldn't have pieced it together.

"Yup," Eric grumbles, causing a hint of a smile to appear on Four's face.

Four and Eric exit the waiting room and enter the landscape rooms. I take a look around the room, noticing how nervous everyone looks. Some are bouncing their legs up and down, and others are tapping their feet or fingers. It's kind of calming to see that everyone looks just as nervous as I am. I'm not exactly nervous about the simulation itself. I'm more nervous about the fact that I don't know what's going to be in it, and the fact that Eric is watching.

Before coming to Dauntless, I hadn't really given my fears much thought. I mean, Amity was a peaceful and carefree place. And both of the fears I've gone through have been fears I've gotten since being here. The first one must've been because of the attack, and it made me realize that I don't like being overpowered. The second one was where Eric rejected me, and I hadn't been afraid of that previously because I didn't put myself in the position to be rejected. I'm just nervous about what is going to show up in my landscape.

"You know," Tera whispers, leaning in closer, "I planned on asking you about your fears at breakfast, but I didn't want to ruin the moment."

At breakfast this morning, I told her about how Eric asked me on a dinner date. And she said that we would go shopping after the landscapes to find something cute for me to wear. She said she talked to a lady from the shops and was told we could charge up to forty points while in initiation. After we're members, we'll have a couple weeks to pay the points back.

"You want to talk about yours first?" I ask.

"My first fear was where I had hundreds of tiny spiders crawling on me." She shudders and takes a deep breath before continuing. "I couldn't move or get them off me. It was awful."

"That sounds like a nightmare."

"It wasn't as bad as my second one." She raises her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them. "You and Finn were in my second one." I raise my brows and rub her back, urging her to continue. "In my landscape, I watched you both get attacked by creepy men wearing masks. I was being held back by two of the men."

"That sounds similar to my first one," I whisper. "Jillian, Reid, and Thomas attacked me--in my landscape. I couldn't fight back. I'm not necessarily afraid of them--I don't think. I just am afraid of being overpowered and not being able to defend myself."

"You're right," she says. "That's practically mine, except instead of myself, it's watching my friends be attacked and not being able to help them."

"I feel like that would be almost as traumatizing as being attacked," I say. "I mean, you're not the one being attacked, but you're having to watch people you care about be attacked."

"Yeah... it wasn't fun."

The door to the room Four is in opens, gaining the attention of everyone out here. Four peeks his head out and says, "Marnie."

Shortly after that, Eric's door creaks open and he peeks his head out. His eyes travel over the small group of initiates before he says, "Finn."

Finn stands up slowly and stretches before making his way to the room Eric just disappeared in. He throws a glance at Tera as he passes by and she smiles at him. I have a hunch that if they aren't already dating, they probably will be before initiation is over. At least I hope so. I think they have feelings for each other, unless I'm reading too much into things.

"Honestly, I'm kind of relieved we're doing two fears in one sitting," Tera says, returning my focus to her.

"Why do you say that?"

"We can go ahead and get it over with," she says, "instead of dreading the second fear while at lunch."

"I hadn't thought about it that way."

"Tera," Eric calls.

She stands and walks to the door, but not without glancing at me. I give her a smile and a thumbs up, hoping to make her feel slightly better.

Since we're going through two fears, the usual wait is going to be much longer. I lean back in my seat, resting my head against the wall.

A while later, Tera comes out of the landscape and Eric calls another name. She looks shaken up, but not as much as the other times. She manages a small smile as she passes me and then exits the waiting room.

***

The last initiate quickly leaves the room Eric is in with his head down. I stand up and stretch my arms above my head. I open the door to the simulation room and take a seat on the chair.

"How are you feeling?" Eric asks from his seat behind the monitor.

"About the simulations?" He nods and I shrug. "Nervous. Scared. Ready to get them over with."

"At least you're honest," he says with a chuckle. The sound brings a smile to my face.

He rolls his chair closer to where our faces are mere inches from each other. He brushes a stray hair from my face, making my cheeks tinge pink.

"You're going to be fine," he assures me. "Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

He inserts the serum and I wince. He smiles at me and I manage a smile back before my eyes get droopy and the serum drags me under.

***

The sound of keys rattling wakes me up from my sleep. I sit up and take in my surroundings. I'm on the ground of a dimly lit room I don't recognize. I'm not only on the ground--I'm chained to the wall behind me. My wrists are cuffed.

A creaking noise snaps my attention away from my wrists. Eric opens the door to my cell and I stand up, relieved that he's come to save me.

"Eric, I'm so glad you're here," I say, walking as close to him as my chains will let me. "I don't know who did it, but someone chained me up and left me here."

"Don't play dumb," he snarls. He pushes me and I stumble back, confused as to what's happening. "You know exactly why you're here."

"We know all about your little plan," Max says, stepping out from behind Eric.

"What plan?" I say. "What's he talking about, Eric?"

"A little bird told us about your plan to get a high rank," he says, his face stone cold. "You thought by seducing me, you'd become a leader."

"Newsflash," Max says, an evil grin on his face, "you're not ever going to be a leader."

"Whoever told you that is lying," I say, my voice shaking. "Eric, I've never tried to seduce you, and I certainly wouldn't do it to gain leadership. Please, you have to believe me."

"You're absolutely pathetic," he says, pushing me back again. "I can't believe I ever had feelings for a lousy Amity transfer like you."

"For trying to seduce a Dauntless leader," Max says, his voice loud and thunderous, "we hereby declare you Factionless."

"Please, Eric," I plead, tears flowing down my cheeks, "don't do this."

"You should've thought about the consequences of your actions before doing them." He steps forward, his face mere inches from mine. "You're going to enjoy being Factionless."

I fall to a heap in the floor, the tears falling freely down my face. I'm Factionless. I don't want to be Factionless. I don't want to be Factionless.

***

I turn around in circles, trying to figure out where I am and where that sound came from. My heart starts racing at the realization that I'm in the Factionless sector. Oh, no. This can't be happening. I need to get out of here.

"Aurora," a voice calls out, barely above a whisper.

The voice sounded kind of familiar, but it was too low for me to figure out who it is. I look around frantically, trying to find who it is that called me.

"Aurora," the voice calls out again.

I start sprinting toward the voice.

"Aurora," the voice calls out.

I stop abruptly and look to my left. I'm greeted with a vacant alleyway. I walk through the alleyway anyway, hoping to find the voice. Two feet are visible from behind a dumpster and I run toward the dumpster.

"Aurora." The voice is louder and more clear now, and I recognize it.

The sight before me makes my stomach curl and tears to well up in my eyes. I drop to my knees beside her and grasp her hand. "Mama, what happened?"

"A Factionless man..." she trails off and clutches her midsection, which is covered in blood. "We were attacked by a Factionless man."

"What do you mean we?" I say, my voice wavering.

Her head turns ever so slowly to the right. I glance to my right and notice my father's lifeless body. My shoulders shake as the sobs take over my body.

"Go," she says, her voice low.

"I can't leave you," I say. "I won't leave you."

Her breathing slows down before it stops. My hands shake as I close her eyelids.

"Fresh meat."

I whip around, startled by the voice. A Factionless man covered in blood stands before me holding a blade. I wipe my eyes and glance down. My parents are no longer there. I glance back up and the guy is dangerously close to me. I try and make a run for it but the guy grabs a handful of my hair and slams me into the wall. My vision blurs and I fall to the ground.

"Weak," he spits. "Fight back."

He kicks at my ribs repeatedly, shattering my ribs.

"Fight back," he yells.

He bends down and grabs a fistful of hair and slams my head onto the concrete.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a Dauntless," he taunts."You're being beaten by a scrawny...Factionless...man..."

A/N: Hey, initiates! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please vote and comment!

Shout out to for the idea to make Rori have a fear of being Factionless.

What do you think Eric's reaction will be to her fears? Let me know in the comments.