Sorry for being later than usual writers block and hopefully the next chapter is WAY better than this one (since its mostly background filler please don't get mad Levi and Eren get there parts later) Thanks for reading, and enjoy :)
Chapter 4- As It Seems
"Sing me no songs, tell me no tales, cry me no tears, but remember me kindly."
Eren's eyes fluttered open, seeing the ceiling of an extravagant room. The king sized mattress was covered in golden sheets and red covers, and decorated wooden poles danced up the sides of the bed. A black dresser sat beside the bed, holding expensive clothes and carrying small things like books and flowers. A silver-framed mirror was above the dresser, hanging on a light tan wallpaper. Patterned carpets and decorated tables sat close by, and the windows peeked in light from the silk draperies.
He sighed, throwing the covers over and swinging his legs over so he could get up. The floor barely creaked when he walked over to the bathroom, and nobody came in to tell him to do something. He missed the noise.
The water didn't seem hot or cold to Eren. He just stood under it, eyes dull and having robotic movements. Yesterday Eren did absolutely nothing. He just laid on his bed, staring up at his ceiling. Sometimes he thought of his family, sometimes his mind was blank. Sometimes he thought of stupid things, such as hot summer nights and the village lights. Sometimes he thought of important things, such as Mikasa and his mother, and the house he lived in, and sometimes he would try to think of the future, but couldn't. He knew he didn't have one.
Eren grabbed some random clothes and began to stroll out of the room, the door clicking. Another one of the Five was also walking down, catching up to Eren. He had scraggly white blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. He would be incredibly handsome if his face wasn't full of dread. They walked down the stairs, not saying anything to the other. They understood what the other was feeling.
The other three were already sitting in the living room. Crumpets, biscuits and tea were sitting on the coffee table, but one had touched a speck. It was quiet. Eren missed noise.
After a while, Hanji and Mr. Erwin walked in, wearing nearly the same outfit they wore yesterday. They looked way better than they had yesterday though, and Eren didn't know why. He thought for a split second that they might actually feel guilty, but immediately abandoned the idea.
"Thank you for being on time." Mr. Erwin stated in the silence, the Five not bothering to look at them. Erwin sighed, looking over to Hanji.
"Well then!" Hanji exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Let's get started!"
One by one, everyone slowly got up from their seats and began to walk in a deformed line behind the two leaders. Erwin and Hanji kept stealing glances at Eren, and he started to feel uncomfortable, looking around as if something was always watching him.
Walking out of the living room and to the left, where the stairs were, they began to walk down a hallway. There were two doors and one large archway, Hanji leading them into the first door on the left.
"This is the kitchen. If you need anything, please just ring the bell or walk down here and tell them your order. They will cook your meal with pleasure." Hanji said, the words sounding recited. Pots and pans clanked and the smell of lasagna was flowing through the room. Bread was steaming in the worker's hand, just exiting the stove. A pastry chef sprinkled powdered sugar on foods that Eren had never seen before, everything seeming foreign. The strawberry blonde haired girl stepped up to a circular bread, pointing at it.
"May I eat this?" She asked carefully.
"Sure. They make plenty donuts."
"Donuts?"
A server laughed behind Mr. Erwin, looking at the girl with a kindness that Eren thought couldn't be found in the castle. "Go ahead and have a taste!" The man said with a Scottish accent, and the girl snatched it up and took a bite, her face brightening.
"... Sugary." She commented, and the other three took a 'donut' from the plate and took a bite of it also. Eren stood back, watching the other four be happy for a few moments. He wondered how they were back in their villages, what their faces and personality would've been like before now.
"Would you like anything?" Mr. Erwin asked Eren, leaning over him. Eren scooted away awkwardly, feeling embarrassed for a moment. "No, thank you."
"Not even fresh-baked bread?"
"I have not had an appetite this morning, Sir." Eren strained, Erwin deciding not to press the subject earlier. The others grabbed some other types of food, and they moved to the next room. An archway led to an elaborate library, shelves of books going up to the ceiling in aisles and aisles. Circular wooden tables stood in the middle of the giant area, along with a few toy chests. They didn't spend too much time in the library, and proceeded to the double doors on the other side of the hallway.
"This is the ballroom." Hanji said. The empty room had checkered tiles, stretching to the size of the library and the kitchen combined. Two chandeliers hanged from the engraved ceiling, candles flickering.
"Helloooo!" A boy yelled, and his words echoed back to him. The room was too big to even be his and Armin's home together. The boy smiled, his shoes clicking when he walked on the tile.
After they were done with the ballroom, they went to the second floor. Of course, the second floor was full of guest rooms and offices, including Levi's.
"You guys will not need to interrupt Prince Rivialle's duties, so please do not disturb him." Hanji and Erwin stared at Eren for a while when they got to this stop.
They traveled to the dining room, the entertainment center, and other various areas that Eren's hurting feet would say were unnecessary. They reached the third floor, and stopped immediately once they all got up the stairs.
"This is where the Prince and Highness's rooms are, so it is unnecessary to come up here."
They must have some big-ass rooms. Eren thought, looking around at the two different hallways on opposite sides of the floor.
"We have one more floor to go to." Hanji said quietly, and Eren turned his head side to side. There were no more floors going up.
The group traveled silently down the stairs to the first floor and into the library. In the back left corner, behind a bookshelf, spiral stairs led down to what Eren could see as grey brick flooring. He heard one of the Five gulp.
They went down one by one, the lighting dim and the area was beginning to become humid. The stairs were made of rotting wood, and they went about 30 feet down before getting to the basement.
Faces. Faces of scraggly, old, young, weak, strong, sick, short, and tall people trailed down the aisle. The bars were old, some holding in mold and weeds were growing through the crack of the bricks in their cells. They stared at Eren in a way that he did not expect. He expected the mean, ferocious glares that were sent to anyone outside of their cell, their vigor and anger surging through their veins. The blood thirst that would shine through their eyes, banging and shaking the cell bars to frighten him.
Instead, they looked at him with pity.
The people in jail were mostly men, but there were a few buff women floating around. Some of them Eren didn't understand why were in jail, such as the young teenage girl and the old scraggly man, who looked like they couldn't do anything harmful.
"This is the jail, if you haven't assumed that yet." Hanji pointed out. When they hit the end of the hall, they took a right, and Eren stared at a glass window with water in it. "..." Hanji didn't say anything. She didn't need to.
Going further down the hall, they saw an iron door with a lock on it, different from all the other doors. And then they saw vicious, ravishing dogs and wolves staring at them like meat. The Five got closer together now, trying to comfort one another with their unspoken words of sympathy.
They went a few more places, Eren thinking this place was full of never-ending hallways. When they finally got back to the living room, Hanji started, "That is the end of the tour. From this point on for the next two and a half days, you are allowed to do whatever you want, as long as-"
"It's inside the castle walls, yeah yeah, we get it." A brown-haired boy yawned, eyes bored. Hanji gave him an annoyed glare, but he didn't seem to care.
"-Yes, Jarred." Hanji muttered, adjusting her glasses. Looking up at the clock, it was already two, and their stomachs growled. Erwin smirked, pointing down the hallway.
"You all know where to go." He commented, picking a dead flower from a vase and the two disappearing up the stairs.
The Five disappeared around the corner, nearly bursting into the kitchen. In front of them was the lasagna from earlier, chicken, a whole pig, salads, wheat bread, fruits, veggies, cobbler, ice cream, and many other things that Eren didn't even know half of. The man named Jarred started to grab a plate and eat immediately, and the others followed quickly behind. Eren picked rationally, only taking a small salad, some spaghetti, and seasoned chicken breast, things that he knew were edible.
They all sat at a table on the side of the kitchen, where the workers would usually eat. Eren was starving, gobbling up everything up in a mere four minutes. Expectantly, everyone else was also nearly finished, running over to get a second servings. This was a foreign thing for Eren, but one of the bakers urged him to eat a 'cupcake'. Eren took a small bite, and his face brightened. The baker laughed, the obese woman rubbing his hair.
"Not everything is as bad as it seems." She said in a thick accent. From what Eren saw at the castle today, that was sorta true, but death was as bad as it seemed, and that's what kept Eren's mouth shut.
He left earlier than everyone else, throwing the cupcake wrapper away and running up the stairs. About to take a left, he stopped in his tracks, looking at Levi.
Levi was talking to what looked to be his advisers, holding clipboards in their hands and pens in their coat pocket. They seemed to be arguing about tax revenue, which Levi obviously didn't give a shit about.
Eren should've been angry with Levi. Levi had lied to him, threatened him, and was responsible for what would happen to him in five days. It was just that in that one day, those few hours, Eren told himself that Levi would always have a spot to be with him. Levi was special. He wasn't like Armin, who was kind and he knew since birth, and he wasn't like Jean, who he had a friend-enemy relationship with. He didn't seem to have a word able relationship with Levi. They weren't close enough to be friends and weren't hateful enough to one another to be called enemies.
Levi was an acquaintance. Someone who Eren barely knew. That one day ten years ago probably meant nothing anymore, but it still connected them. That connection was what Eren hung onto, his soul scratching and tugging this little thread. He wanted to become friends. That was all he wanted with Levi. To become friends once again.
Levi looked over at Eren, his advisers following his glance. "Has he been hearing us?" One of the advisers said.
"Probably so." Another adviser commented, staring at Eren like an unwanted parasite. Levi rolled his eyes, throwing his hand over to a guard and fanning it over at Eren.
"Take him away. That man should not be here." Levi sighed, not looking at Eren.
Too bad he was the only one who thought that way.