Several transfers had to be taken to the hospital wing, during the first few days of training, but none of them had stayed passed out for as long as Tris. Lilith had left the blonde girl in the care of a purple haired nurse a few hours before lunch, and she was still out when she returned, after training, along with Will, Christina and Al. Not very surprisingly, bruises already covered her pale skin, and Lilith highly doubted that she'd be able to open both eyes, when she finally awoke. 

The rest of the day hadn't been too eventful, or maybe Lilith had just stopped paying attention to her fellow iniciates as they trained. She had been itching to fight the whole time, but it wasn't like she could go up to Four and ask him to find her an opponent. Everyone else had their respective combats to worry about, and she wasn't going to throw a fit just because it was her turn to stay out. Ultimately, she ended up near the punching bags once again, only stopping when Christina approached her and told her that training was over, for the day.

"What happened to your face?" Tris' voice was heard after a while. Lilith's lips formed a small smile as she pushed herself away from the wall, making her way to end of Tris' bed. The other girl did her best to return her smile, but it looked odd, with how swollen her face had become.

Christina adjusted the ice pack against her jaw, releasing a laugh, "Look who's talking. Should we get you an eyepatch?"

The blonde paused for a few seconds, her eyebrows furrowed, "Well, I already know what happened to my face. I was there," there was another pause, during which Tris winced, "Sort of."

Lilith smirked, "Was that a joke, Tris?"

"We should get you on painkillers more often, if you're going to start cracking jokes," Will grinned, leaning forward in his seat. The suspicions he had about Lilith seemed to have dissipated during the day, and she could only assume that Christina was the one to thank for that. If there was something that she didn't want, it was for people to think she had her ranking handed to her on a silver platter, no matter what it ended up being. She wanted to work for it, and she wanted to become the best as a reward for all of her hard work. The boy was still grinning as he glanced at Christina, "Oh, and to answer your question - I beat her up."

"Romance at its finest," the brunette commented, only for Christina to smack her in the arm.

"Piss off, Lilith."

"I still can't believe you couldn't beat Will, Christina," Al spoke up for the first time, shaking his head.

Christina's lips were pursed as she shrugged her shoulders, "What? He's good. Plus, I think I've finally learned how to stop losing," she pulled the ice pack away from her face, allowing everyone to see the bruise forming on her dark skin, "I just need to stop people from punching me in the jaw."

"Wasn't that obvious since the very beginning?" Lilith chuckled, making her best friend roll her eyes.

"Now we know why she isn't Erudite," Will too laughed, before sending the girl a wink, "Not too bright, are you?"

"You feeling okay, Tris?" Al's voice cut through the light atmosphere, interrupting the banter that was happening. The three other transfers looked back at Tris, who had been silent during the last few minutes. 

"Yeah," she attempted to nod her head, "Just wish I could stay here forever so I never have to see Peter again."

"If you did that, you'd be letting him win," Lilith said, her fingers wrapping around the barrier on the end of Tris' bed. 

The blonde released a sigh, her eyes drifting to her hands, before she looked back up at Lilith, "Did you really believe I could do it? That I could beat Peter?" she stopped, gulping to herself, "Or were you just saying those things?"

All eyes turned to Lilith. No one else had told Tris that there was a chance she could beat Peter; in fact, they had even told her to give up on trying to win that particular combat. The brunette didn't know if she had truly believed that Tris had it in her or if she was just angry and eager to see someone put the boy in his place, and that had made her project her hopes onto Tris. She now realized that maybe she had put her faith in the other girl for purely selfish reasons, and not because she trusted that Tris had the ability to do it.

"I believe you have the potential to do it," she finally mumbled, placing a strand of hair behind her ear, "Maybe today just wasn't the right day."

"Hey, don't worry about Peter," Will spoke up, after a few seconds of silence, "He got beat up by Lilith, and he'll at least get beat up by Edward," his lips spread into a smile, "He's been studying hand-to-hand combat since we were ten years old. For fun."

"Good," Christina nodded her head, as she looked down at her watch, "I think we're missing dinner. Do you want us to stay here, Tris?"

The blonde shook her head, "I'm fine."

"I can bring you some cake, if you'd like," Lilith offered.

Tris met her eyes once more, a small smile on her lips, "No, that's okay. Thanks, Lilith."

Every step she took seemed to be a lot heavier as she followed Will and Christina out of the hospital wing. The two were chattering amongst themselves, not noticing that Lilith was lagging behind. Something about the realization that she had had when Tris had questioned if she had ever believed in her made her feel awful. Perhaps she was allowing the stress of the initiation process to take over her, and make her do and say things that she normally wouldn't. Hell, she'd even been feeling angrier than usual, to the point where she actually needed to do something about it so she wouldn't explode.

An arm laced itself around hers, and Lilith looked to side in surprise, only to see Siobhan. They hadn't been spending a lot of time together during the last few days, and the brunette would be lying if she said that the Dauntless born's company wasn't like a breath of fresh air. A bruise stood out on the girl's cheek but, other than that, there weren't many other signs that the girl had been defeated a lot of times in her own training.

"Why the long face?" Siobhan questioned, as they made their way to the dining room.

"Stress, I guess," Lilith shrugged. Even if she wanted to elaborate further, she wasn't sure of where she'd begin or how she'd explain. Her feelings were much safer inside of her, at least for the time being.

Siobhan released a hum, "Okay, let's not talk about the combats," she paused, before grinning, "I know! How are you feeling about our field trip tomorrow?"

Lilith had a vague memory of Eric calling them when training had ended for the day, letting them know that they'd be visiting the fence that surrounded the city, on the next day. Apparently, they were going to learn more about what exactly the Dauntless who worked there did, not that the girl cared too much about it. However, she did have to admit that, after days of being confined to the Dauntless compound, the trip sounded like what she needed to get her ideas in order.

"I'm looking forward to it, actually," she replied, "I've never been there before."

"I haven't, either," the brown haired girl shook her head, "But Granger says it's beautiful. Four asked him to come too, by the way."

"What for?"

"I guess he wanted someone who actually works there to explain what they do," she shrugged, "It's going to be good for him, you know. He's been struggling a lot with his reports from when he was there last, some fresh air is gonna help him clear his mind."

"Granger does paperwork?" Lilith furrowed her eyebrows.

"Yeah," Siobhan nodded, "He hates it, though. Eric usually gives him a hand, but he's been... gone a lot, lately."

Lilith's frown deepened as those words left her friend's lips. She hadn't been the only one noticing that something was off with Eric, judging by Siobhan's tone. The fact that he had looked exhausted during that whole day and that he hadn't been with his best friend for a while had to mean that he was busy, probably with something leadership related. The girl hadn't heard anything about what the Dauntless leaders were currently doing but, then again, she wasn't exactly a member yet. Still, something seemed off.

"I'm having dinner with some of the other iniciates today," Siobhan announced, as they finally reached the door that led to the dining hall, "Would you like to join us?"

Lilith looked around the area, in search of Will and Christina. However, both of them seemed to have vanished, the girl guessing that she had somehow stayed behind while she was thinking of the toll the initiation process was having on her. Licking her lips, the brunette nodded and followed Siobhan to the line, where they waited in silence for their turn to pick up their dinner. That night, Lilith's plate contained a steak that looking nothing short of well cooked, along with some rice. Siobhan had also placed a piece of chocolate cake on her tray, despite her protests.

"Hey, guys! This is Lilith," Siobhan said, as she put her tray on the spot next to a girl with sandy blonde hair. Lilith recognized her as the one who had screamed on the roof, during the first day of initiation, after someone hadn't made the jump. There were dark circles under her eyes but, other than that, she seemed to have recovered.

"I'm Uriah," a dark skinned boy smiled at her, and she found it almost impossible not to smile back, as she settled in front of Siobhan, "We've heard plenty about you."

"Good things, I'd hope," she grinned, as she poured herself a glass of water.

"Let's just say some of us are a little intimidated," the blonde girl revealed, "My name's Rita, and that's Jonathan," she gestured at the boy on Lilith's right, who had black hair and a piercing on his lip. On his other side, there was a girl that Rita introduced as Marlene.

"Intimidated?" Lilith echoed, after she'd been acquainted with everyone, "Why would you feel like that?"

"Rumors are spreading that three of you are really good," Jonathan smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners, "Two boys and one girl. Based on what Siobhan told us before, we think you're the girl to watch out for."

"How many of your fights have you lost?" Rita questioned, licking her lips as she leaned forwards in her seat.

"None."

"Shit," Marlene giggled, after a few seconds, "I can't wait to tell Lynn she lost the bet."

The conversation quickly turned away from the training, and Lilith was surprised at how welcoming the Dauntless born iniciates were being to her. Thoughts about that day were pushed out of her mind as she watched Marlene and Jonathan throw food at eachother, laughing until her stomach hurt. 

She'd never felt so at home, as she did on that particular night.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

A huff left Lilith's lips as she threw another punch at the bag in front of her, looking over at Nate, who seemed determined on making his own knuckles bleed once again. His blue eyes were narrowed in concentration as he landed hit after hit on the leather, feet moving on the ground below him like he was fighting an actual opponent. He had gone against Al, that day, and he'd won the combat easily. The former Candor boy didn't seem to be putting much effort into the fight, anyways, but Nate had still managed to emerge victorious after a minute in the arena.

As they had agreed, on the previous night, the golden haired boy had joined Lilith on her jog around the Dauntless section of the city. She had to admit that having company was a lot more enjoyable than doing the whole thing on her own, and both teenagers had smiles on their lips as they raced eachother. Once back at the compound, Nate had eagerly led her to the training room, where he'd gone straight for the punching bags, and Lilith had followed him, after letting out a sigh. She'd spent most of the day practicing her hits already, and she'd hoped for some actual combat, but Nate didn't seem to be interested in that.

"What's wrong?" the boy finally questioned, as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Lilith raised her eyebrows as she threw a lousy punch at the bag in front of her, "Nothing."

"You're acting sluggish," Nate mimicked her facial expression, folding his arms over his chest, "What's up?"

The brunette sighed, "I'm just... tired," her fist hit the leather, "Initiation is bringing out the worst in me," her knuckles burned, "Christina is making friends and I... I just feel like I'm getting left behind," her vision was blurry as her foot collided with the bag, "It's all because I'm... selfish and I only care about myself."

"That's not true," Nate shook his head, "You're helping me, aren't you?"

"Yeah, in exchange for your help," she let out a bitter laugh, "Selfish."

"You're not," he repeated, "You're forgetting about all those times your friends are about to enter the arena and you give them advice to help them win. I heard you talking to Tris today," she shook her head in response, but Nate continued, "I saw how you stood up to Eric when he tried to stop you from helping Christina, yesterday. I'm almost sure you also asked him to end the combat between Molly and her, earlier," she finally faced the taller boy, just as he smiled, "Now tell me, what exactly do you gain from that?"

Lilith shrugged. She couldn't really see what Nate saw, and she believed that those things only came out of his mouth because of the Amity in him. However, even if the other transfer was used to searching for the good in everyone, and he had managed to find it in her, that had to mean something. Closing her right hand into a fist, she took a deep breath. Maybe she wasn't a bad person, but she still knew that she was far from the best she could be. She was determined to work on that.

"Didn't you tell me you were going to break my nose?" she finally broke the silence, after a few seconds, a smirk on her lips.

"Oh, you want that to happen today?" Nate smirked back at her, cracking his knuckles.

"Well, yeah. Unless you don't think you can actually do it."

"You're on, Lilith."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

AUTHOR'S NOTE

We're two weeks into 2021 and I'm already having a bad time yeet
I have one more week left of my first semester of uni, and I'm almost for sure failing one of my classes, so that's really been something nice to think about. On the other hand, the next few days are gonna be really busy and I can already tell I'm gonna be fucking exhausted but at least it's the last week!
Like last chapter, this one too is fully new! I wanted to introduce some Dauntless borns (which I will add to the cast list right after posting this chapter) plus start to explore how Lilith feels even more. The fact that I can really relate to Lilith in some ways is just ((((: but yeah, we also get the hint that something fishy is going on 
I hope you enjoyed and please leave me your feedback! I'll see you next week!