"So annoying…" Muttered Levi Heichou under his breath as his carriage bounced on the cobblestone roads. Going into town short notice always gave him a headache. The bustling people, laughing and yelling of small children, and the cries of various shopkeepers was enough to make his head feel like it was going to split open. Checking his pocket watch again, he grumbled internally. It had taken an extra twenty minutes to get here. He hoped Michel had a good reason for this this. His irritable thoughts subsided when the carriage finally stopped at their destination.
"Let's go, Reiner." Rivaille said with a cold voice as he looked towards his blonde bodyguard and faithful servant. Reiner gave a nod and opened the carriage door, giving a bow as Levi strode passed him, giving a look of detest and anger towards the carriage driver. "Mr. Zakarious," His voice lowered to an almost threatening tone, "That took longer than I expected. Please explain yourself."
Zakarious didn't waver at his employer's harsh tone, "There was a carriage accident on the normal route. We needed to take a detour, Sir."
"Make sure to warn us next time." Levi snapped before turning towards the reason why they came to this filthy city. "Come, Reiner."
"Yes sir."
"Mr. Smith." He glanced at the man behind a large counter. Unlike most others in the city, he was a fat old man, obviously making good business being within an hour of most of the wealthy families in England.
"Ah, Mr. Rivaille!" He said with an obviously forced smile, "What brings you here today?"
"My cane. I received a letter that it was supposed to be arriving today." He gave a cold look towards the old man behind the dark oak counter. The man looked flustered as he glanced behind him at the canes that had been delivered.
"O-Oh, I'm sorry sir. I think our worthless errand boy hasn't come back from getting it lacquered upon your request. My apologies." He cowered a bit, glancing at Reiner with a look of utter terror. Levi just sighed, turning back to face the door.
"We'll be taking our leave then. Come Re-"
As if on cue, a dark brown haired teenager burst through the door. A tan parcel was held in his arms, and sweat beaded down his dirt covered face. 'Disgusting' thought Levi as he looked at the child in skepticism. Mr. Smith gave an irritated growl, moving from behind the counter towards the teen.
"M-Mr. Smith I-I got here as soon as I can- There was a carriage accident and-" Before the delivery boy could explain himself the package was ripped from his hands and a fist collided with his face, causing him to fall backwards and hit his head against the door.
"You useless brat!" The old man grabbed the child from his hair, pulling him away from the entrance, "Do you have any clue how important my customers are! You dirty trash!" With that he planted a kick to the kids gut, successfully knocking the wind out of him with an audible gasp. Levi stood there in disbelief, despite his outwardly bored appearance. Mr. Smith turned his attention back towards Rivaille, handing him the cane. "Forgive the boy. I'll make sure he's adequately punished for wasting your time." He gave a small nod of good-bye before turning back to the kid, kicking him in the side once more.
Levi looked into the kid's turquoise eyes as he was continuously kicked by the older man. Their eyes locked for a brief moment, and what should have reflected pain and embarrassment reflected something different from what he'd ever seen on such a young face.
Hatred.
Burning fire in those crisp blue eyes directed right towards Levi.
It was like the child was daring him to turn around, to go back to his carefree life.
The eye contact was broken off as he received another strong kick to the gut, coughing at the lack of air entering his lungs.
"Mr. Smith, leave him." Levi spoke nonchalantly, raising his voice loud enough to be heard over the old man's screams. "He's certainly suffered enough for his mistake. There was a carriage accident on the main road after all." The boy and Mr. Smith had matching looks of disbelief and awe. Levi strode over to the kid; allowing Reiner to shove the old man out of their way.
"What's your name, brat." Levi asked, kneeling on one knee to get a better look at him. He didn't look any older than 17 and his patched up clothes looked awkward and too short for his long, lanky frame.
"E-Eren Jeager, Sir. I-I'm sor-" His own coughing and gasping for breath cut him off. Levi almost gave a look of pity.
"Tch… Reiner, carry him to the carriage. We can't have him dying in the streets like this…" He left the payment for his cane on the counter before following Reiner out the door. "Thank you for your business, Mr. Smith, but I believe we'll be receiving service elsewhere from now on."
And with that the three were gone.
Where are you taking me?
Eren's head rested in the large blonde man's lap. He was too weak to sit up. Blinking was almost painful. He knew the dark haired man in front of him was talking, but he couldn't make any sense of it, let alone reply if he was asked anything.
Why are you doing this?
It felt like years were going by in seconds. The white noise around him dulled his senses, made it impossible to focus. His eyes slid shut as exhaustion took over his body.
Am I dying?
The next thing he knew he was waking up in a soft, unfamiliar bed. He could smell clean linen and a soft, almost lavender scented perfume. He couldn't even remember the last time he was this comfortable. He curled up on his side, but shooting pain forced his eyes open. "F-Fuck…" He muttered, instinctively reaching a hand to hold his painful side. Much to his surprise, there were large, soft bandages all around his torso. Blinking a few times he sat up, only to be face to face with a brown haired girl with large glasses, staring at him intently.
"A-ah!" He let out a surprised yell, looking at the woman in a mix of terror and confusion. She smiled so wide it looked awkward on her rounded face.
"Aha~~ Look who's finally awake!" She grinned, getting up to spin around the room excitedly. She had a white lab coat over a clean button up shirt and a brown skirt. She must be a servant, he thought to himself, but his thoughts were recollected once she talked to him again, "You really gave all of us a scare~ I wasn't even sure if I could even revive you…" She looked at him with watchful eyes again. "Eren, correct~?"
"Y-yes." He gave a small nod, "Um… where am I?"
She giggled at his question, taking his hands into her own. "You're in Lord Levi's manor~ He saved you from almost certain death!"
Eren thought for a moment, trying to recollect his memories from earlier. He was running late to drop off something… He was kicked to the ground… and there were grey eyes looking down at him… Cold, beautiful grey eyes. He looked back up at the woman, who was gazing into his eyes. He couldn't help but blush at her attention.
"A-and who are you?" He asked, looking away from the strange woman. She gave another giggle, this one chilling Eren to the bone. She stood up, pushing her gasses up a bit.
"Who am I…? WHO AM I~? I am Hanji Zoe, Levi's personal physicist~!" She said with a semi-demonic smile. Eren imidiately regretted his decision to ask her about herself. "I am here to make sure Lord Levi is safe from whatever illnesses may come~ though my true obsession… my true calling…" She grinned, "Is the human mind~. Oh how I'd love to be able to poke at it and draw out all its secrets with the tip of a scalpel~. But never mind me~ I was told by Levi to "get that poor, filthy brat in the bath before he wrecks my clean sheets." Don't take it personally, though~ He's just like that~." She smiled sweetly, offering Eren her hand.
"T-Thanks…" He took her hand and she led him to the bathing room.
(A/N; Thanks for reading~ This is my first historical AU, so I really hope I did okay... ;_; I also hope it was pretty obvious as to who the characters were and what they were portrayed as. This may be 7 or 8 chapters long; I have quite a few ideas for character development in my head for this story.)
