The following day had been heavy, when it came to training. Lilith had been paired up with Molly for her combat, something that brought a smirk to her face. The other former Candor had attempted to strike her on the nose once more, but the brunette had dodged all of her hits and managed to knock her out after three minutes. Her whole body felt like it was about to give out on her, but Lilith did her best to ignore her aching muscles. If anyone saw her dragging herself around, her newly acquired ruthless reputation would go down the drain, and that was something she didn't want.

Her teeth were gritted as she followed Siobhan and Rita to the tattoo parlor, just after dinner. The blonde girl had recruited both of them to tag along with her as she got a new piercing, and despite wanting nothing more than to collapse on her bed until it was time for Nate and her to sneak out, she hadn't found it in herself to refuse. As they walked, her eyes focused on the tattoo on Rita's exposed shoulder. It was the simple outline of a butterfly, wings fluttering in the wind. It looked recent, and she wondered if she too had gotten a permanent reminder of her sister.

"I still feel betrayed that you were the one to shoot me down in Capture The Flag," Siobhan shrugged her shoulders at her friend, a mocking grin on her lips.

"Like you wouldn't have shot me," Rita bumped her shoulder against hers. Siobhan stumbled dangerously close to the edge of the path, but she didn't seem too bothered as she regained her balance. The smile on Rita's face faded for a few seconds, before she gulped and looked straight ahead of her. She continued, "Uriah says you guys took the sissy approach."

"It would have worked, too, if Four hadn't picked so many fast members," Siobhan shook her head, "Lilith did say he had a plan, but Jonathan was acting all high and mighty, as usual. Then, Eric told us to shut the hell up."

"As usual," Lilith smirked, earning a laugh from both of her companions.

At that time, the opening that led into the parlor came into view. It was packed, that night, and Lilith assumed that it was because it was the only free time the iniciates were allowed to have. She recognized some of the Dauntless borns and she was almost sure that she could see someone with Nate's hair, though the boy didn't turn around to let her confirm her suspicions. Some of the other iniciates looked at her in curiosity, and she didn't really understand why, until Rita tugged on her arm.

"Word got out about your fight yesterday, with the Amity boy," she mumbled, as the trio cut through the crowd, "Lynn heard that annoying boy you always bicker with talking about it. You have quite a reputation among us too, you know."

Lilith looked around, "They look scared. Not of me, though."

"They're scared you're going to rank first," Siobhan revealed, and the brunette raised an eyebrow. Her friend then grinned, "Like we told you, we know about three of the transfers being really good. One of them obviously is you," she paused, "So our group is a little scared that you and the two other boys will get better rankings than us. We didn't really think of the transfers as a threat until now."

"Do either of you think like that?"

The two females exchanged a glance, before Siobhan smiled and shrugged her shoulders, "Not really. As long as I'm in the top eleven, I'll be happy."

"What she said," Rita mumbled. Her eyes then brightened as she spotted someone waving her over, from the piercing section of the parlour, "I'll be back in a little."

There were a few moments of silence, during which Siobhan followed Rita with her eyes. Shaking her head, she faced Lilith once more, "She has such a big crush on the girl who's currently working in the piercing area."

"Is that bad?" Lilith raised her eyebrows.

"Nah, they're cute," the blue eyed girl replied, shrugging her shoulders as she sunk down on one of the leather chairs. Lilith looked to where Rita was talking to a dark skinned girl with short hair and an abundance of piercings in her ears, her cheeks flushed as she took a seat. Siobhan chewed on her lower lip, "Would be a lot cuter if she actually had the guts to talk to her, instead of coming here to gawk," she touched her nose piercing, "I got this with the pretext of her tagging along and asking Lavinia out on a date. Never happened."

Though she'd been mostly straightforward all her life, when it came to these sorts of situations, Lilith supposed she understood why Rita could be scared. Rejection wasn't easy to handle, and it was a lot safer to keep feelings behind closed doors, instead of bringing them out into the open, where there was no guarantee that someone wouldn't just decide to stomp over them. Risks were also necessary, however, and the rewards made it worth it, most times. 

"Not gonna lie, this is making me want to go on a date with Granger," Siobhan laughed, after a few seconds.

"No one's stopping you."

"Technically, the piles of reports in his apartment are," the girl sighed, before shaking her head. It didn't take too long for her to look at Lilith mischieviously, and the brunette raised an eyebrow as she watched her friend straighten up in her seat, "We should go on a double date."

The corner of Lilith's lips twisted upwards, though she was slightly confused, "Who? You and Granger, plus Rita and Lavinia? That's a goo-"

"No!" Siobhan cut her off, before exhaling through her mouth and nodding her head, "I mean, I guess that too. But I was talking about Granger and I, plus you and Eric. I guess Rita and Lav could come too, and that would make it a triple-"

"Siobhan," Lilith's tone was firm, and the other girl instantly ceased her rambling, "I'd rather eat my own foot."

The other girl looked at her like she didn't believe her in the slightest, "Yeah, right. I saw the way the two of you were looking at eachother, after Capture The Flag, last night. And he complimented you!"

The sight of Eric blushing as he told her that she'd done a good job on the previous day was still fresh on her mind, and she hated how her heart beat faster when she thought about it. They'd both acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened on the previous night; for all intents and purposes, nothing had changed. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, before she finally spoke, "So you're saying I should go out with everyone who compliments me? Because, if so, the both of us have quite a few dates to catch up on."

Siobhan shook her head, letting out a laugh, "I don't swing that way, Lilith. Besides, Eric doesn't compliment just anyone," she paused, before shrugging her shoulders, "And you guys would look cute together, you know. Neither of you are bad on the eyes."

"I'm not going on a date with Eric!" she folded her arms over her chest. Siobhan pouted, but Lilith still shook her head, "Out of the question. He can't stand me, and he also annoys me to no end. There's no way it would even work."

"Fine," her friend finally rolled her eyes, glancing back to where Rita was currently getting pierced. There were a few moments of silence between the two girls before Siobhan spoke again, "If anything happens between you guys, you owe me chocolate cake for a whole week."

"Nothing's gonna happen!"

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Her footsteps echoed each time she stepped on the sidewalk, sweat dripping down her skin and stray hairs glued to her forehead. The streets close to the compound were silent, and Lilith felt slightly odd about not having Nate with her. She'd tried to persuade him not to skip their training that night, but after he'd shown her the bruises on his torso and how he couldn't really walk, much less run, she'd decided to go out on her own. 

Every muscle in her body ached, but she'd still pushed herself until she almost collapsed. Her endurance had gotten significantly better since she'd transferred, but while there was room to improve, Lilith would keep trying harder. Her throat was parched, begging for her to drink some water, and her lips felt dry as she ran her tongue over them. Making a mental note to stop by the drinking fountain on her way back to the dorm, she turned around the corner to the street where the entrance to the Dauntless building was.

A shadow moved in her peripheral vision. Gasping, the girl moved away from where she'd seen it, but not before something hard clashed against her temple. The impact sent her tumbling to the ground, the gravel scratching her arms as her head burned with pain. Her vision had become blurry, the only thing she managed to see being a silhoutte of someone slowly coming out of the shadows. Gritting her teeth, she crawled away from whoever it was, earning a laugh in response. The person was getting closer and closer, her heart beating faster as she did her best to get up before they reached her. A kick to her stomach rendered all her previous efforts useless, knocking the air out of her as well.

"Not so brave without your dauntless friends to protect you, huh?" 

The voice was familiar, and Lilith furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she faced her attacker once more. She was finally able to focus her vision and, surely enough, her former neighbour stood over her with that smirk she'd always hated plastered across his face. The brunette coughed, shaking her head as she crawled further away from him, "P-Peter..."

"You're weak," he said, "Admit it."

Those words were enough to make anger coarse through her veins. Ignoring the pain that burned throughout her whole body, Lilith clenched her jaw, pushing herself to her feet. Her eyes were narrowed as she stared straight at Peter, blood from the gash on her temple dribbling down her face, mixed with sweat. Her breaths were shaky as she looked at him, silently challenging him to make another move. If it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he'd get.

"You just don't give up, do you?" he questioned, shaking his head. The look in his eyes made it painfully obvious that he was threatening her, to back off and allow him to become victorious. What he actually expected to get out of the situation, she didn't know. All she knew was that Peter Hayes wasn't winning, then or ever.

It took less than a second for Lilith to take a fighting stance, her gaze focused on Peter, "Bring it on, coward."

A chuckle left Peter's lips, before he too held out his fists in front of his face. He began circling around her, and Lilith noticed that her head was still spinning slightly. Doing her best to ignore it, she pushed herself forwards. Peter tried to catch her off guard with a punch, but her hand firmly grasped his fist before it could hit her. Taking advantage of the fact that he had one less hand to defend himself with, she threw her fist against his nose, a crack echoing in the night. He stumbled backwards, and she was forced to release his hand, immediately returning to a defensive stance.

Wiping the blood gushing out of his nose with his hand, Peter let out a breathless laugh. Her eyes were narrowed as she watched him, trying to guess what his next move would be. She wasn't too surprised when his foot left the ground to attempt to strike her in the stomach; after all, kicks had become Peter's specialty in the arena. Dodging his hit, she didn't miss the oportunity to send him to the ground as she sent her elbow against his stomach. The fact that he still hadn't restored his balance from the kick made him collapse, and she kicked him in the stomach one more time, just to be sure. 

"What the hell is going on here?" a voice suddenly questioned, and Lilith jumped, quickly turning around to see Eric heading towards them.

Panting as she looked from Peter was on the ground to Eric, the girl shook her head, backing away from the boy as he stood to his feet. His hand was firmly pressed against his stomach as he tried to breathe normally once more, and he gave her a murderous glare before he too turned to Eric. Both of them were silent as the leader finally stopped in front of them, his eyes focusing on their injuries before he glanced at something on the sidewalk. Following his line of sight, Lilith spotted a blood stained rock on the sidewalk, and she assumed that that was what Peter had used to strike her, when she turned the corner.

Eric folded his arms over his chest, as he looked at Peter, "Which part of not being allowed to leave the compound without a Dauntless wasn't clear?" he spat out. Peter opened his mouth to talk, but the older male didn't give him a chance to respond, "Not only did both of you break one of the rules I mentioned before, but you also believe it to be a good idea to try and beat eachother to death out here? What if one of you had killed the other? What then?"

"One less iniciate for you to worry about," Peter muttered.

Though the boy had spoken lowly, Eric still understood him, "That's not how things work around here," he glanced at Lilith when she moved to press her hand against her wound, before looking back at Peter, "You're evaluated in that arena and in the other activities we do during training. Not out here, at one in the morning. Just the fact that both of you are out here would be enough to kick you out," there was no response from either of them, that time, and he continued, "This only shows me that you're not loyal to your new faction."

Those words stung Lilith more than she'd like to admit, and she felt tears brimming her eyes. Eric seemed to be more focused on lecturing Peter, and she could only assume that her turn was next. Sneaking out was against the rules, and she'd always known that. Lilith had gotten on Eric's bad side many times, and she wondered if this would be the final push for him to finally kick her out, like he had threatened on her first day. 

None of this would be happening if Peter hadn't decided to attack her. She would have made it back to the dorm and gotten into her bed without anyone seeing her, and Eric would have never found out that she broke one of his rules every day. All this trouble simply because Peter was intimidated that she was better than him, because he took the coward's way of getting himself a higher postition in the rankings. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides as she thought that this was all his fault. She'd never despised him more.

"Peter, inside," Eric finally ordered. The boy hesitated to move, prompting Eric to speak once more, "Now!"

She raised her head just in time to see Peter smirk in her direction, almost as if he was glad that they had gotten caught. The night clearly didn't have the outcome he had expected or wanted, but the smug expression on his face told her that he was glad he had managed to get her into trouble with a leader. Her features twisted in rage and she found herself spitting at the ground near his feet, earning her a surprised look from both males. Her glare was focused on Peter as he finally started making his way to the building, his hand still over his stomach. As much as she didn't want to admit it, hearing the door slamming behind him after he was inside made a wave of relief crash over her.

"Are you okay?"

Lilith's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she looked back at Eric, her response coming after a few seconds of silence, "Peter must have hit me harder than I thought," the leader's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the gash on her temple once more, but the brunette kept talking, "I just heard you asking if I'm okay."

A sigh left Eric's lips, "Because I did."

Her breaths were still shaky as she nodded her head, doing her best to ignore how she could feel the blood still gushing down her face, "Is it possible for me to make a complaint on what that... asshole just did?"

"Yes," he nodded his head, "But then you'd have to tell the other leaders that you were out here and, as you know, that's against the rules."

Her features twisted in confusion. Eric's whole attitude regarding the situation was puzzling, but it was the fact that he didn't seem too bothered by any of it that threw Lilith off. She'd assume that the leader would lose his mind if he found out that someone was breaking the rules, and while he'd given Peter a pretty stern lecture, most of his anger seemed to have vanished. Folding her arms over her chest, she spoke once more, "Let me get this straight. All these rules were broken in a single night and you're not mad?"

Eric shrugged, "I was, the first time I saw you sneak out," he paused, letting out a sigh, "But then I got up here and saw that you were only going for a jog. You're not hurting anyone, and you're doing something that's good for you, both for personal matters and to help you climb the ranks. You're fine as long as no else sees you," his eyes drifted from her down to his boots, "And as long as you make it back."

"So that's why you came out here?" she wondered, "Because I didn't return on time?"

Once more, the same red tint that had appeared on Eric's cheeks after capture the flag came to life, and her heart accelerated as he kept his head down, probably to keep the fact that he was blushing hidden from her. She bit down on her lower lip to stop herself from smiling, feeling her own cheeks heat up as well.

After what seemed like forever, he nodded, "Yes," he gulped, facing her once more. His gaze was locked on the wound in her temple once more, and he clenched his jaw, before turning around and starting to walk back to the compound, "You don't seem to need stitches but I'll walk you to the hospital wing, anyways."

Frowning, Lilith followed Eric into the building. All signs of emotion that he had shown before were now completely gone, making her wonder if Peter's attack had made her hallucinate.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi, everyone!
I've said this on my message board but, for those of you who didn't see it, I started my 2nd semester of uni this past monday. That being said, there will be some changes to the way I update my books. When it comes to Bullets, I'm giving you this chapter and there's no set schedule for updates, meaning that it will be updated whenever I have time + inspiration. I don't know if any of you read my book Zenith, but I'll be doing my best to bring back weekly updates for it. I also hope to post my Din Djarin fic soon, and maybe one for the TV show The Wilds. It's all very ambitious, but I'll be trying my best to make it happen.
I feel like this chapter is more of a filler, even with the fight with Peter at the end. We've had some tension growing between Lilith and Peter ever since training started, but it finally hit its highest point. This will have implications for both of them in the future, even if they're not immediate.
Let me know what you thought, and I'll see you next time!