Levi Ackerman, a Lieutenant in the Scout Regiment is no more than twenty six years old under the command of Captain Erwin Smith was walking down the road when he head some yelling and a child screaming. Usually the man would have moved on but there was something about the scream that raised some red flags. The young man quickly turned the corner towards the scream that he heard and started running as fast as he could. Forget the damn meeting, this was more important. At least it was to Levi.
As he got closer to where he thought the scream came from, his eyes widened in shock when he saw under a Merchant's stand a little boy. The boy looked like he was frightened, clinging to something. Standing there was a man and a woman, yelling at each other as they appeared to be trying to get the boy out from under the stand. He could not quite hear what they were yelling but what ever it was, it just seemed to be doing more of a good job at scaring the boy then calming him enough to come out of hiding.
As he got closer he could hear what the woman was yelling at least since she was yelling on the top of her lungs, "This is your damn fault for wanting a son so badly! We wind up with a child like him who appeared out of no where!"
The man looked back to her, "Do not put all the blame on me! It was you who said we should take him in. It is not my damn fault he just screams and hides when he feels like it."
"Oh don't even go there Harry, you know of what else he has done since we brought him into our home. He has been nothing but trouble." The Woman crossed her arms over her chest, "Just get him out of there so we can go home."
Levi came to a stop just beside them, speaking up after he has caught his breath, "What is going on here?" He asked looking to the man and the woman, obviously concerned because it was starting to drizzle. Meaning that any time it will start to rain since it is the time of year that it usually pours for days and days almost none stop.
"It is none of your -" The woman was starting to speak up but was stopped when the man who she referred to as Harry put a hand on her firmly, "Don't you see you are speaking to an officer you stupid woman." The man looked to Levi and gestured angrily to the stand that the boy was hiding under, "We took him in after he was brought to us. He has been nothing but trouble since we took him in three weeks ago. He screams like a bloody Banshee, and hides. When we try to get him out he just kicks, screams and bites. Hard." The man said, obviously not caring that his raised voice was frightening the boy even more.
The young officer frowned as he looked to them, but for the young boy's sake he kept his voice calm and low, "Well I can tell you one thing. Your fucking yelling is not helping to calm the boy enough to come out of hiding." He then looked to the woman, not caring that she was older than him, "And this is now my business after I see how you are treating him now.. any parent would know what the affect of the last attack can have on a young kid like this." Levi gave them a warning glare to not try anything stupid before walking up to the stand.
Standing in front of the stand he placed his hand on the top to help ease himself down onto his knees and elbows, ignoring the cold stone pavement below him. His heart sank when he actually saw how terrified the little boy was. There were some tears plastered to his face, his green eyes glazed with more tears that were still shedding from his eyes. The man frowned at the sight as he wondered just what else he had to put with, and not just with what ever caused him to go on these outbursts.
"Eh good luck getting him out of there. He will never come out, not even to you mate. So why don't you save yourself the stress and move on." The older man said with a slight hint of frustration, "We will take care of him."
Levi remained calm as he continued to look at the boy, wondering how to get the toddler out of hiding, "And what do you plan to do to him once you do? Put him through more trauma? I can tell you he has had more than enough of that." He now could see the boy was clinging to a stuffed bear toy, and looking right at him, still too frightened to move just yet.
The woman looked to Harry, "Would you just get him out from under there? It is starting to rain. We will catch a cold if we stay in this weather any longer."
The man growled and walked over to one of the other three sides of the stand, reaching for the boy he grabbed the boy by the ankle with a yank to get him out. The toddler screamed and kicked at the man's hand before crawling deeper under the stand until he was pressed against the building. Having enough of the two older people the young officer growled as he jumped up and quickly walked over to the man, grabbing him by the collar of his coat and pinning him to the building, "Why did you do that?! Hurting him will not get him out of there! Something scared him! That is why he is hiding under there!" Levi let go of the man's collar and stepped away, pointing a finger at him, "You stay right there while I get him out!"
Levi walked back to where he was before, a hint of anger was in his eyes on his overall calm expression, "When I get him out he will be coming with me." He got back onto the now wet pavement.
"Why would you take in a child like that? He could be a child of the devil with the looks that he gets on his face when he is angry or throwing a fit over nothing." The woman said.
"Because I know I will do a better job at looking after him than you sorry excuse of adults." Levi said plainly before crawling under as much of the stand as he could without scaring the child anymore than what he is. The boy looked to the young man with a obvious look of fear in his eyes, shaking because it was cold as well as because of how scared he was. Normally this sort of thing did not affect Levi but this time it was breaking his heart to see a child this scared. Finally after what felt like was hours, the boy finally crawled over to Levi, the bear held close to him in one arm. The toddler suddenly started crying as he clinged to the officer, who quickly removed his cloaked and wrapped it around the boy before carefully getting out from under the stand with the boy in his arms.
Pulling the hood over the boy's head, the man looked to see if the couple were still there but they appeared to have left. A sigh escaped from the man's lips as he looked down to the toddler who was still shaking, possibly still frightened, "Looks like you are coming home with me after all.. without a fuss." Levi said as he started running as quickly as possible towards where his quarters are, though it was still a long run to get there. But it appeared that this rain spell was over as it started to slowly drizzle instead of picking up to a full blown rain spell, so Levi slowed down to a quick paced walk.
Looking down to the toddler a rare smile appeared on the man's face as he saw that the toddler's hands still tightly clinging to him with his head just over the man's. The man watched as the toddler blinked sleepily as he listened to the man's steady heart beat, "I do not see why they say you are the child of the Devil.. not just because of your behavior.." His smile tugged some more at the corners of his lips as the boy fell asleep just as Levi was walking up to a building, "Eren.. Sleep well." He pulled the door open and stepped inside, quickly closing the door.
Walking to the set of stairs he ignored the looks that he was getting from people that he passed by, or who passed by him. To not wake the sleeping toddler the man slowly walked up the stairs, his arms protectively wrapped around Eren. But it was not long before he was standing in front of the door to his room. Carefully holding the boy in one arm he fished his room key out of his pocket and slipped it into the lock.
Now unlocked, Levi pushed the door open and stepped inside, kicking the door closed with his foot. The sound of the door closing caused the boy to jump with a small whimper that was easily silenced when Levi ran his hand gently through the boy's brunette hair. Smacking his lips Eren rubbed at his face a little before going back into a deep sleep as Levi carefully placed the boy on the bed at the other end of the room, thankful that he had his own private quarters. Looking over the sleeping toddler, the man gently pulled the covers over Eren.
A tired sigh escaped from the man's lips as he tugged off his cravat and his coat, thinking that keeping the boy wrapped in the cloak will help to keep the boy calm for now. Putting his coat on a peg, he neatly folded his cravat; placing it on the stand next to the coat peg. Walking over to the couch he flopped down as he ran his hand through his raven hair. Levi glanced over to the boy who was still amazingly asleep, not really to Levi's surprise since the boy had quite the unwanted excitement not too long ago. Laying his head on the back of the couch, the young officer stared at the ceiling, wondering just what he had gotten himself into.