Chapter Five– Dear Rabbit – Part 1
"I'll protect you little rabbit…my angel..so please only look at me."
'No…no…don't touch me…please, don't come any closer…stay away…'
Run. That's all she think to do, all that she could hope to do, to try and get away from the blood splattered figure holding the crimson drenched blade.
Red. That's all she could see, the hot, scarlet fluid, spurting from the veins of the dead men that littered her once, warm and cozy home.
Silence. That's all the she could hear, her screams never able to leave her terror stricken throat.
The man approached, his lips moved, but her ears refused to recognize any tones. Her wide, emerald eyes, stared, frozen in terror as he closed the distance between them. She felt his arms wrap around her cornered form, the heat of his body pressed closely to hers, betraying her sense of self preservation. She tried to push away, her fingers slipping on his slickened, blood splattered skin. She was pulled further into his grasp, preventing her from fighting back, his slippery red fingers curling around her back, gripping her body and immobilizing her. 'No, please don't hurt me, please…'
"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Eren shot up from the sheets, nearly throwing them off of the bed. Tears streamed down her face and her shoulders shook from the terrible nightmare she'd awoken from.
Feeling the chill of the room hit her sweat drenched skin; she reached forward and pulled the damp sheets back over her body. Eren's breath quickened as she began to take in her surroundings.
'Where am I…this isn't my bed…'
"M-Mikasa?" she called out vainly. 'No...the Ackerman's guest bedroom wasn't like this…what…'
"Where am I?" Eren buried her face into the palm of her hands and tried to curl in on herself. After letting a few more tears fall, she slowly crawled out of the bed.
Her bare feet hit the cold, hardwood flooring and she momentarily stiffened from the shock. After a few seconds, she forced herself to get used to the sensation, and softly padded through the darkened room. When she reached a wall, she blindly searched it, running her hands along the wall until she found the cool plastic panel that housed the light switch.
She flipped a switch, and the light came on, illuminating the unfamiliar space. Eren stared, wide eyed for a moment while her shock rattled mind tried to put the bits and pieces of her last few days together, and try to figure out how she'd ended up in this strange place.
She wandered over to the windows and pulled back the heavy curtains to reveal a view of the starry night sky. She attempted to pull at the windows, but they were shut and locked tightly.
She returned to the opposite side of the room and grasped the metal door knob. She gave a weak, experimental twist, and stiffened when she realized that it wasn't budging. She gave the knob several more, stronger twists and tugs, but to no avail.
'I-I'm locked in…? What is going on?'
She jostled the handle roughly, trying in vain to bust the lock and open the door.
Eren paused her assault on the door knob when she heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.
She searched the room for a place to hide and settled for crawling under the bed. She quickly thumbed the switch and turned the lights off, immediately depriving herself of her sense of sight. In the moment of confusion, as she tried to dive under the bed, the sound of metal clinking against metal could be heard as the door was unlocked and opened.
She fell to the floor in shock as the lights were turned on, sending her dark adjusted eyes back into another dazed spiral as they tried to readjust to the added light source. Disoriented by the entire situation, Eren screamed and thrashed as two strong arms were wrapped around her fitful form.
"Eren," she struggled more, and the grip tightened.
"No! No, let me go! Get off of me!" she continued her thrashing as she tried to pry the arms off of her body.
"Eren it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you…please Eren, calm down," she felt the warm breath of her capturer against the back of her neck, as he lowered his head in defeat, "…please."
She stopped struggling completely and let the man hold onto her. His grip was firm, but it wasn't painful, and he hadn't threatened her or brandished a weapon. Eren took a deep, shaky breath and cautiously placed her hand on the wrist of her captor.
"O-okay," she breathed out, "I won't try and run, so please, let me go?" her grip on the wrist tightened slightly, then released as she felt his hold slacken.
His arms slowly dropped, loosely fitting around her waist, then were completely removed from her space. Keeping true to her word, Eren stayed crouched on the cold wooden floor and slowly turned around to see her captor.
She was met with a downcast, pained look on his…no Levi's, face. Eren felt her chest constrict, as both guilt and fear surged through her system.
"Levi?" he looked up to meet her eyes, then just as quickly looked away. 'He looks like he's having a hard time,' she thought. Her brows furrowed further, her face becoming a mask of confusion and anxiety.
"I'm sorry Eren," his words were barely spoken above a whisper; they sounded broken and terribly pained. He slipped back towards the door and shut it behind him, closing both himself and Eren off from the rest of the cold, dark house.
She stood, making sure to keep as much distance between them as possible. "Where am I? What is this…?"
Without meeting her questioning gaze, he answered, "This is my house," he looked and locked her eyes with his own "but you're welcome to stay here and call it yours too."
"I…I don't feel very welcome." She moved further back into the room, "Why did you lock the door?"
"I-…to keep you safe Eren. I did it to protect you. If you wandered out of the house and got lost…or taken, then I don't know what I would do."
Eren felt her confusion boil into anger, "What do you mean, 'keep me safe?' You think that by kidnapping me that you're protecting me? What's wrong with you?"
She glared at him, and slowly moved away from the wall, towards the door he was still guarding, "This…" Eren looked around the room, "This is crazy Levi. I trusted you, I thought you would help me…not lock me away?" the pain she felt from talking so sharply to him made her voice quiver and crack, "If you really cared about me, then you would let me go." She crossed back over to door, and reached for the handle, that Levi's hand had fallen from.
"I want to leave, take me back to Mikasa." She turned the knob and began pulling the door open.
He firmly gripped her hand, and pushed back to close the door again, "I can't do that Eren. It's not safe."
"And it's safe here? You won't even let me leave this room."
"Eren." His voice was low and rigid, yet the underlying ache was still detectable. "Go back to bed, we'll discuss this when we've both had more rest."
"Why? So you can lock me up again?" She roughly jostled the door knob and used her other hand to try and pry Levi's fingers off of the knob. "I want to leave. I-I want to go home," her eyes burned as fresh tears began to swell, "I don't want to be here, not with you…" she fell to the floor, tears spilling from her eyes, "p-please."
Her hands still weakly held the knob. Levi lowered himself, taking her shaking hands with him. He wrapped his arms loosely around her and held her head to his chest. "Eren…" the softness returned to his voice, the gentleness that he'd had previously, when he comforted her.
Eren noticed it and cried harder, leaning into the warmth and security that his arms gave her. The safety that she'd lost when her mother died. But this…this wasn't the same kind, it was not a mother's love that compelled Levi to care for her so strongly…she'd barely known him before her attacks, yet he'd always seemed so close… so familiar.
So why, why was this stranger so willing and able to help her? Why, even as she lashed out at him and took her frustrations out on him, did he simply stand there and take it…? And why did he look so wounded…so defeated? Eren felt both comforted by and terrified of him…yet she felt herself relaxing into his familiar hold, almost willing him to hold her closer…tighter.
"Eren, for now… just do as I say. We can discuss this later…"
"Why?" she whispered softly against his neck. "Why are you doing this…?" she tightened her grip on his shirt, fisting her hands and pressing herself closer to him.
"Because I… I care about you..." he pushed her back enough to cup her face, "and I want to protect you. Isn't that reason enough?"
Eren's eyes widened…she went rigid in his hold and stared at him like he'd suddenly grown wings. "W-what?"
He said nothing; instead, he began to sweep his thumbs along her paling cheeks.
"But I barely know you…you barely know me…how…?" she searched his tired, gray eyes, narrow and glossy, with the subtlest hint of tears, prickling at the edges. She reached forward and gentle touched his face, running her own thumb underneath his eye, wiping away the small tear before it fell.
She dropped her hand and leaned forward again, burying her face in the crook of his neck. "I'm so confused. I'm too tired for this-"
"Let's go to bed. It's late, you need to rest Eren." He felt her nod against his neck, taking this as confirmation; he tightened his grip around her and stood, lifting them both off of the cold wooden floor. He walked over to messy bed and laid Eren down, then moved to cover her with the blankets. He grimaced when he felt how cold and damp they were, then dropped them and turned to leave the room to get fresh sheets for her.
As soon as she was laid on the bed, and Levi's warm hold left her, she recalled her nightmare. The men attacking her, and the bloodied figure coming after her, the slippery wet feeling of the blood on her skin, renewed by the still damp sheets she was laid into. Her mind still spun, unable to separate her harsh reality from her hellish nightmare.
Eren reached out and grabbed the edge of his shirt, preventing him from walking away from the bed. "W-wait, don't leave, I-"
He turned on his heel and sent her a shocked expression, then quickly let the stoic mask he usually wore cover his features. "It's alright. I'm going to get you fresh sheets, that's all. I'll be right back." He turned to leave again.
She shot out of bed and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face into his lower back, "N-no, I don't want be alone, don't lock me in here again…"
Levi frowned slightly, but allowed her to willingly cling to his hips. "Then do you want to come with me?" he felt her nod into his back and tugged her arms off of his waist. He firmly gripped one of her hands and helped her out of the bed, "Come on then."
He guided her through the dark corridor and into the open expanse of his living room, keeping her close so she didn't run into anything. She stumbled a few times and fell into him, but he simply chuckled and pulled her forward again once she found her footing. They passed the linen closet and then walked into his bedroom, without flicking the light switch on, he guided her to his bed and pushed back the covers to let her sit on the edge.
"You can sleep here tonight."
Eren felt the soft, but firm, mattress below her as she was guided to it. She felt around the bed and lifted her legs to push them under the cool and silky sheets. She laid her head against the fluffy pillow and took a deep breath, inhaling the faint scent of forest timber. The smell reminded her of when she was a small child.
It was her first camping trip and her parents wanted to make it as authentic as possible. Grisha rented a log cabin in a forest, two states over, far away from all technology and modern life. They spent the weekend in the cabin, fishing and picking nuts and berries to snack on. Grisha had even managed to get both Carla and Eren out to try hunting. At only nine years old, Eren was a poor shot, but Carla was able to get a small pheasant and Grisha shot a rabbit. She threw a tantrum, upset at her father for killing the rabbit, but ate the stew prepared from its sacrifice anyway.
Both Carla and Grisha prepared a small casket to put the remains of the rabbit into; they let Eren choose where to bury it. She chose the largest tree she could find, an old Oak with twisted, above ground roots. After she buried it, she sat next to the tree, enjoying the sounds of nature until she dozed off.
She awoke to her parents' worried voices, calling out frantically, in search of their lost daughter. When she fully opened her eyes, she was met with a sight that she'd never forget for the rest of her life.
Standing, not two trees away, was a giant, white wolf. It's piercing silvery-blue eyes, staring straight through Eren, like it was looking into her soul, assessing its quality. Eren remained completely silent and frozen against the bark of the grand old tree, locked in the moment with perhaps the most terrifying, and beautiful creature she'd ever seen. The sounds of the woodland creatures and her breathing completely masked the concerned voices of her parents. All that existed in those moments were Eren and the white wolf; the only sounds were from her beating heart, her breath, and the birds chirping idly in the background. The smell of pine and oak, moss and fern, and grass and dirt surrounded them.
Eren was brought back to reality when she heard the sliding of a chair across the wooden floor. She looked up from the bed to see Levi sitting in a cushioned armchair. He'd draped a blanket over his shoulders and leaned his head back against the dark material.
'Why is he..? Oh,' she realized she was in his room, sleeping in his bed, and she'd been the one selfish enough to demand that he not leave her alone. She felt guilty that she was sleeping comfortably while he had to sleep upright in the chair, but she was also happy that he had kept his distance.
Surrounded by silky, warm covers, the comforting scent of the woods and the image of majestic white wolf in her mind, Eren closed her eyes, letting sleep take her exhausted body immediately.