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Worth Fighting For - Chapter 1: Begin At The End

Rating: M (violence, smut, language, references to abuse and violence)

Romance/Tragedy

He was ruthless, cunning and completely committed to protecting his city but her arrival to Dauntless called everything he ever thought he believed into question. Duty and following orders were no longer enough. They both found more than they ever thought possible. They both found something worth fighting for. Eric/OC AU M Tragedy/Romance

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A/N: Posting this here but is also on ff.net site.

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The Choosing age has changed twice since Eric and Four joined Dauntless at sixteen. First it went to eighteen and then two years before our story starts it was changed yet again by the orders of Marcus Eaton to the age of twenty. Eric and Four have been members of dauntless for over eight years at the start of the story. The last two years before choosing the dependents were kept to doing faction oriented duties.

Eric Coulter: 24, Dauntless Leader, transferred from Erudite at 16. (Jai Courtney-original cast member)

Kat Prior, 20, Initiate, transferred from Abnegation at 20 (Chloe Grace Moretz)

Chase Oldham, 24, Dauntless Training Instructor/Intel Ops Officer, transferred from Candor at 16 (Liam Hemsworth)

Tris Prior, 20 (almost 21), Initiate, transferred from Abnegation at 20 (Shailene Woodley-original cast member)

Tobias ‘Four’ Eaton, 24, Dauntless Instructor/Control Room Officer, transferred from Abnegation at 16 (Theo James- original cast member)

Zach Godfrey, 25, Dauntless Legal Liaison Officer, transferred from Candor at 16 (Aaron Taylor-Johnson)

Zeke Pedrad, 24, Dauntless Intel/Control Ops Officer, Dauntless-born had choosing at 16 (Charles Michael Davis)

Uriah Pedrad, 20, Initiate, Dauntless-born (Keiynan Lonsdale - original cast member)

Marlene Banks, 20, Initiate, Dauntless-born (Suki Waterhouse-original cast member)

Lynn Morrison, 20, Initiate, Dauntless-born (Rosa Salazar-original cast member)

Max Cornell, 48, Dauntless Senior Leader, Dauntless-born had choosing at 16 (Idris Elba)

Christina Stevenson, 20, Initiate, transferred from Candor at 20 (Zoe Kravitz -original cast member)

Will Madsen, 20, Initiate, transferred from Erudite at 20, (Ben Lloyd-Hughes-original cast member)

Tori, 32, Dauntless Tattoo Artist, transferred from Erudite at 16 (Maggie Q-original cast member)

Bud, 44, Tattoo Shop Owner/Artist, Dauntless-born choosing at 16 (Sebastian Roche)

So hard to let go

And I still hear the sound

Of your voice singin’ in my head

I can’t surrender

‘Cause the ropes slowly coming apart

But hangin’ by a thread

It’s gone on

For too long

And this is it

So take a look into my eyes one last time

So we never forget

The way we were before

When we came alive at the moment we met

This is still worth fighting

Still worth fighting for

A glass that’s half empty

Won’t wash away the mistakes

It only makes a mess

It’s worth defending

A tiny glimpse it would take

To make us better yet

It’s gone on

For too long

And this is it

So take a look into my eyes one last time

So we never forget

The way we were before

When we came alive at the moment we met

This is still worth fighting for

A love that wants to live

I’ll give you all I’ve got to give

So let’s try one last time

So we never forget

This is still worth fighting

Still worth fight for

Now that we know just who we are

Now that we’ve finally come this far

I’m ready for one more battle scar

‘ Cause this is still worth fighting for

[Still Worth Fighting For; My Darkest Days]

Chapter 1 - Begin At The End

Third Person: Candor Complex, Final Justice Annex

In a cold, sterile room made of white marble with swirls of black covering the walls and floor was a chair of black leather. The only piece of furniture in the center of the stark room, similar in shape to that of a dentist chair.

Strapped to the chair was a man clothed all in black. The first time he had been allowed to wear the colors of his faction since his own arrest a week and a half ago. A small gesture from those leaders that disagreed with what would be happening today.

Maybe it was supposed a kindness or a show of support. Just like their insistence that they still be allowed to be the ones to proceed with his sentence, his execution. It was ironic really that at the end of it all he was finally getting the respect from the faction he had always given everything to. A respect he had never received during his close to nine years there, no matter what he did or gave before. In the end...he was giving his life.

But it hadn’t been all for them or even the city. He was still selfish enough to admit that freely.

‘Was it worth it, Eric? Betraying your faction? Your city? Was she worth it, Coulter?’

The bitter and taunting words of a deranged woman from her own cell when his sentence had been pronounced reverberated through his head.

Movement around him draws his attention as the forms of the leader’s council come into view. The Dauntless surround him but the noted absence of one brings to him relief and pain. Four of the five current leaders take their places to either side of him while the rest of the faction leaders take up places on the outer edges.

One Erudite, Cara he thinks as he remembers her name, steps forward to join the Dauntless. In her hand she holds the instrument of his death. A locked box containing the death serum they had pronounced would be used on him instead of being allowed the death of a Dauntless, the customary bullet to the brain. The reasoning was that since all five of the Dauntless leaders had voted Not Guilty that it wasn’t a true Dauntless execution.

It was all just bullshit and another way to try and make him pay for the crimes he committed, yes, but also the ones the other leaders wouldn’t hold themselves responsible for.

“Eric Coulter, for the crimes committed against your city, your faction and humanity; you have been sentenced to death by injection of the Erudite death serum. This will be carried out by one of the Dauntless leaders, per permission of this council. Will the chosen for the proceedings step forward.” Jack Kang’s voice rings out from the side of the room.

Instantly Eric goes tense and a growl erupts from him as the petite blonde steps forward. “Not her!” He barks out commandingly. “Anyone but her.”

“Eric..” She starts to object, tears in her eyes as she continues to step forward.

He tosses his head from side to side, lips thinned and red in anger. “Not happening, Tris. You know you can’t do this. She will never fucking forgive you. Not like this...not after all the shit I…” He stops and takes a deep breath. “She can’t lose her sister too.”

Tris bites her lip and looks away nodding, knowing he is right but knowing her duty.

“Fuck it. I volunteer in her stead.” Four steps forward holding Eric’s eyes showing him he understands and will take care of it. Knowing that he risks losing his oldest and best friend for this.

Eric flashes a grateful look and relaxes back into the chair while Four puts a comforting hand on Tris’ shoulder to move her back but she shakes her head and raises her chin.

Her eyes flash with fire, a look he knows so well and it is comforting to see even if the color of her fire is off from the one he loves so much.

“She wanted to be here….but after the trial and then…” Tris trails off and Eric chuckles wryly knowing exactly why her sister wasn’t allowed into this room.

“Unless you want to add to the body count this was the only way to go.” Eric agrees.

There is a clearing of the throat and then Jack Kang speaks again. “Do you have any last words?”

There is a pause while they allow him to gather himself, or just give him time to speak if he is going to. The words of a deranged and enraged Jeanine Matthews were still ringing through his mind and a slow smile crossed his face. Not the cruel or wicked smile he was a legend for. This was her smile. The one that was only for her and could only be brought forward by her or thoughts of her.

They flooded him now. Their first meeting to their last kiss. And he answers the question that had been in his mind from the day she stepped on his roof.

“She is worth it. She and we, were worth fighting for. I found my reason and my purpose, something greater than myself. I can live with it...the blood on my hands...because I know it all comes down to her and those she cares about being safe.” Then Eric’s face turned hard, more into the expression everyone who knew the ruthless and fierce ex-leader would expect him to have. “Don’t fuck up this second chance.” His tone rings with a command that sends chills through the other leaders but amusement and pride through those in black.

The rest of the world fades away for him as he tunes it all out. He doesn’t see the room around him anymore as the murmured ‘be brave’ motto of their faction comes from the four to his sides. He doesn’t feel anything as Cara and Four begin to prep his neck for the injection.

All his senses and thoughts are on a playback mode. Starting from the day that changed his life forever and the course of the city. It occurs to him during this that it had started for them much earlier than that day she jumped from the train into his life. It began with the promise of a ten year old girl to set things right. Pride and love burn through him along with the pain of the modified serum.

“You did it angel. You kept your promise.” Eric’s final words were a whisper on his last breath and a smile tilted his lips.