Eren all but jogged into the aquarium the next day, feeling very much like a kid on Christmas morning. Even though it was only the day after he had gained Levi's tentative trust, already, he couldn't believe how well things were going. Yesterday he had returned to the mermaid's tank twice more, giving him both his lunch and dinner. Levi had taken the food from his hand again, doing so much more easily, and by dinner time, Eren dared to believe that he seemed almost excited to see him again. Even though he still clearly didn't want to touch Eren or have Eren touch him, the wary look in his eyes seem to diminish every minute he spent with him, the tenseness in his frame slowly bleeding out as he became used to Eren's voice. Eren of course did most of the talking since Levi's ability to communicate with him was severely limited, but he was able to answer yes or no to things, as well as able to mime certain answers.
That was how Eren learned about Kuchel's fate.
Of course, it had stung the boy's chest severely, knowing that Levi didn't have his mother waiting for him out in the ocean, that neither of them would ever see her again. That Levi had to lose her in such a traumatic way. But it did make Eren make another promise to Levi.
"I know I can't replace your mom," he had told him solemnly, "But I promise I'll be there for you and watch over you in her stead, okay?"
Levi had stared at him, wide eyed, almost dropping the fish he had in his hands. Just what was this boy? Already making these huge promises to the mermaid when it had only been less than a day since they had reconnected. They were all things Levi had wanted to hear ever since his mother had died, one of them being for someone to offer to protect him. He obviously couldn't protect himself, and constantly having to try and do so when it always ended with him in pain or being humiliated in some way…it would be nice to have that burden lifted from his shoulders.
However, he still wasn't sure if Eren genuinely meant what he was promising, or if he was just talk. After all, people could say a lot of things in the heat of the moment.
Yet, one thing he knew Eren did mean was when the boy offered to teach him sign language again.
"Things would be easier for you if you could communicate, not just with me, but with the other people here," Eren had suggested. He had then looked down and away, his cheeks turning a light pink as he added, "And I mean, there's a lot of things I'd like to ask you. About yourself. About mermaids in general. If that would be okay. I want to learn everything I can about you and your kind. I want to make the world a better place for mermaids."
And he had sounded so genuine in his request and reasoning, that Levi found himself nodding in response.
Hence why Eren was so excited. Today, after he was finished with his chores (and scrubbing the lab, of course) he was going to give Levi his meal, and then begin their first sign language lesson. He was also curious to see how much Levi remembered from their childhood, especially since he, against all odds, seemed to remember Eren's sign name, and their word for "promise." He made his way over to the mermaid tank first, figuring that it couldn't hurt to at least say good morning to Levi. That is, if he was even awake, and even wanted to see Eren. But he had looked so happy yesterday at the boy's suggestions, surely he wouldn't mind.
Eren was about to head over to the back room located near the tank, preparing to grab some breakfast for Levi, when the sounds of strange voices began to filter down to him. He paused, halting in the hallway and straining his ears. There were many different voices, most of them men that he didn't know, but to his surprise, he could swear he heard Hanji and Moblit's voices too. And they did not sound happy, but Eren couldn't understand what they were saying from this distance. He began to get closer, a look of confusion on his face, a look that slowly morphed into one of fear when he realized where exactly the voices were coming from: Levi's tank. And the fear turned abruptly into panic when he registered another sound above the sounds of the voices.
The sound of Levi shrieking.
With that, Eren burst into a run, his footsteps echoing loudly against the concrete floor, matching the sound of his heart that had begun to pound in his ears. He raced up the ladder, the voices growing louder and more coherent once he began to ascend it. When he was about halfway up, he could hear the sound of Hanji arguing with someone.
"Why is this so hard for you to understand?" the man was saying.
Hanji was yelling back, "Oh no, you're the one whose moustache is as lacking as your brain, Nile. You knew when you bought him that Levi was too young to be separated from his mother, that the both of them shouldn't have even been kept in the nets in the first place. They should have been released the moment those guys realized they had caught them, and yet you purchased them anyway. You helped to fund an illegal business and then you run an inhumane business of your own!"
"And how is it any different than what you lot do here?" Nile retorted, "Levi has just gone from one tank to another. If we took him back, he wouldn't even know the difference. The difference would be that he'd be actually doing something useful if he was back"-
Hanji bellowed, "You gave up all of your rights to him when we seized him from Trost Sealand! He's the property of the aquarium now and I'm not going to let you"-
"The park has fallen on hard times," the man interrupted, "And regardless of his past behavior, this mermaid was our most lucrative resident. My boss has told him to bring him back to the park by any means necessary, you understand? If you don't relinquish him willingly, then we're going to have to take him by force."
"The hell you will!" Moblit growled.
By then, Eren reached the top of the ladder, and he had heard enough to understand what was going on. However, nothing prepared him for the chaotic sight that greeted him. The man called Nile (who was indeed sporting a lacking moustache, as Hanji had mentioned) was in Hanji's face, the two of them squaring off like a pair of angry cobras. Moblit, whose face was red with fury, was slightly behind her, with another man wearing a Trost Sealand shirt behind him as well, looking ready to hold Moblit back if necessary. However, the thing that filled Eren with rage was seeing a couple of other men, both sporting Trost Sealand shirts, leaning of the edge of the tank and strategically setting nets in the water around Levi, while another poked at the mermaid with a long cattle prod, guiding him into the net. The shrieking was coming from Levi when the prods struck him. He jolted every time they touched him, alternating between screaming from the pain and snarling up at his tormentors.
Upon seeing that, Eren didn't think; he just acted. He saw red, and charged forward. However, before he could get very far, the man standing behind Moblit intercepted him and grabbed one of his arms, tugging Eren's body firmly to his. Erenn of course immediately went of the offensive, shouting at the man to let him go and wriggling around as hard as he could. However, the man rode out his struggles, keeping Eren trapped where he was. It was only when Eren stopped struggling so much that he looked over to see that Hanji, Nile, and Moblit had noticed him, and that Hanji and Moblit were looking at him with concern.
"What the hell are they doing here?" Eren growled, narrowing his eyes at Nile, "They can't have Levi, they can't!"
"And who's this?" Nile asked.
"My intern," Hanji said distractedly, and then added more firmly, "Eren, you need to leave. I've got this, alright? They're not going anywhere with Levi."
"The hell we aren't," Nile told her, "I think he's almost in the net now."
Eren's head shot up to see that what he said was in fact true. The net was in the process of being closed, cutting off Levi's retreat. When the mermaid saw this, he began fighting anew, trying to break out. He first tried to swim over the top of the net, practically throwing himself over it as it was pulled tight, but he was pushed back by the prods. With a pained yelp that cut into Eren's heart, he fell back, but continued to thrash, pushing against the walls of the net. Eren began struggling anew as well, trying to pull himself out of the man's grip, but the man was quite strong, and bigger than he was, so he was able to hold tight. Slowly, the other men began to lift the net out of the water, Levi thrashing with everything he had. But of course, the more he struggled, the more he entangled himself, until Eren could see that the netting had wrapped itself several times around his tail and one of his arms. The more trapped he became, the higher pitched Levi's cries became, turning from anger to terror.
"Let him go!" Eren screamed, "Before I bounce your fucking heads off the floor! Let him go!"
Hearing Eren cry out like that caused Levi's head to swing around, and for him to fix his wide, scared eyes onto the boy. Once he saw him, he began to cry out anew, though the pitch changed once more. He was still terrified of course, but now he was shrieking more regularly, in a way that to Eren sounded like he was trying to speak.
Like he was begging.
Help me! his eyes were saying, Please! Please help me! Don't let them take me, I can't go back there again!
After that, several things happened at once.
Eren dimly heard Hanji and Moblit threatening Nile with something if they didn't let Levi go this instant, while Nile threatened them back. However, he was hyper-focused on Levi, who, while Eren continued to wrench himself around in an effort to break free, had managed to wriggle an arm out from one of the holes in the thick netting, and slashed outward. His nails connected with the thigh of one of the men hauling him in, the one who was holding more of the netting, causing the man to cry out in pain and drop his half. This left the other man to try and compensate, grabbing desperately at the net as it started to slide back into the water. However, he wasn't quick enough or strong enough to stop it, and it slid through his fingers, causing Levi to tumble back into the water with a loud splash that was like a death knell to Eren's heart. Even more so when he saw Levi begin to sink like a stone downwards underneath the surface with a final shriek that was cut off when he his head disappeared under the water, and it was then that Eren realized with horror that the net was weighted. The kind of net meant to sit on the bottom and that's exactly where it was going to drag Levi.
Eren's thoughts began to race, blurring together until they became one pure white mass with one remarkably simple concept: save Levi. He didn't think, didn't bother to stop himself or ask for anyone's opinion. Instead, he reeled back and punched the man who held him in the jaw as hard as he could, causing the man to let him go with a grunt. Once free, he wasted no time in kicking off his shoes faster than he had ever done so, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He zeroed in on one of the men that had tried to haul in Levi with the net, noticing that he had a large knife in his pocket, racing over and snatching it from him before the man even knew what had hit him. Finally, he ran down towards the area where Levi had disappeared under the water, his bare feet pattering on the concrete, his panting breaths and roaring blood loud in his ears. He faintly heard Hanji calling after him, trying to stop him, before he put the blade in his teeth and dove off the edge of the tank, thrusting his arms out in front of him and sucking a huge breathe into his lungs.
He didn't even wait to regain his senses; he just began swimming downwards. Eren cracked his eyes open, the water stinging his eyes slightly, but he could barely feel the pain over his desperation. It didn't take him long to spot Levi, the mermaid and the net a dark shape on the bottom of the tank. He was still throwing himself every which way, trying to push the net off, stirring up the sand considerably. Eren locked onto him and began to swim down with powerful, sure strokes, clenching the knife in his teeth so tightly that his jaw ached.
The moment he reached Levi, he grabbed for the net, trying to anchor himself to the bottom of the tank. The mermaid froze for a brief second when he noticed that Eren was there, and then when he registered his presence, began to click and squeal frantically. He thrust his free arm out through one of the large holes in the net, his hand flailing around, and Eren grabbed it without hesitation. He spared a moment to run his thumb over Levi's knuckles, and meet his wide-eyed gaze, reassuring him without words. Don't panic. I'm here. It's going to be okay.
Levi squeezed his hand, trilling in a way that didn't sound quite as afraid as he had before. The fear was still there, but the blind panic had ebbed away slightly now that he knew Eren was here to help him. If Eren had the luxury, he would marvel at the fact that Levi had willingly asked for his touch and gained comfort from it, but now was not the time. First, he tried to lift the netting, wondering if he was strong enough to bring it and Levi back to the surface, where he knew it would be much easier to get him untangled. However, that hope was soon dashed, as he found after a few fruitless tugs that the combined weight of Levi and the net was far too heavy for him to lift even an inch off the floor. It had after all taken two men to lift it before. So, Eren quickly switched plans, working his way down the net, before he took the knife out of his mouth and began to cut away at the netting that held Levi's tail captive. However, with a jolt he realized that this was not going to be a fast or easy process; the rope was thick, each cord thicker than his finger, and it was taking several seconds to cut through each one. Some were taking him up to half a minute, and the constant sawing motions made his muscles being to burn quickly. Yet, desperation and adrenaline kept him going, and his own stubbornness refused to let him give up.
He was almost through freeing Levi's tail when he felt the urge to expel the breath of air he had taken from his lungs. He stubbornly kept it for as long as he could, but too soon, he was forced to exhale, a huge cloud of bubbles floating up around his head. Now time truly was of the essence, as he felt that the surface was too far away for him to reach, and he was almost done. He just had to free Levi's arm, and then help him wriggle out of the netting.
Eren moved up towards Levi's head, beginning to work on his arm, cutting with more urgency now. It wasn't long before he felt the tell-tale burn in his lungs, but he pushed it away from the forefront of his mind. Luckily, Levi had tried to help him, chewing on the rope, managing to make some of the ropes weaker and therefore easier for Eren to saw through.
Levi watched him, saw the concentration on Eren's face, saw the pain flicker across it when the burn in his lungs grew unbearable. Eren closed his eyes for a moment, trying to bear down and get through it, but he simply couldn't force his mind to override his most basic urge, and he knew soon he wouldn't be able to stop himself from racing to the surface. However, at this point, he most likely wouldn't make it in time, and Levi would soon need to breathe as well. He forced his shaking fingers to work, gritting his teeth and focusing all of his energy on finishing his task. He had almost freed Levi's upper arm, when he felt his body taking over completely. An urge stronger than he could control commanded him to go towards the surface, to breathe.
However, to Levi's horror, he didn't make it far. He watched as he turned around, managed to rise a little bit, before he gradually stopped fighting. The knife fell from his lax hands, and he began to sink. Had he breathed in some of the water? Most likely. Shrieking with desperation, Levi began to look around frantically, praying for a miracle, shaking on the ropes, as if they would miraculously unravel. He cried once more for Eren, hoping to rouse him, but the boy wasn't moving, and he could feel the burn in his own lungs growing.
Suddenly, a glint caught his eye, and he saw that, amazingly, Eren's knife had landed in the sand near him. Without hesitation, he reached for it, wrapping his trembling fingers around it, and with an urgency bordering on madness, he began to cut the remaining ropes, glancing back at Eren every once in a while. He gritted his teeth against the desire to whimper, to break down and cry at his helplessness and terror. If Eren died now, when Levi had just gotten back him back after wanting to see again for so many years…
Finally, the last rope snapped. Levi dropped the knife, wiggled wildly forwards through the tight hole he created, shoving the net over his hips and tightening up his flukes so that they would fit, finally flicking it off of his tail. He wasted no time in swimming towards Eren, wrapping an arm around the boy's waist, and taking off towards the surface as fast as he possibly could.
Meanwhile, on top of the tank, Hanji and Nile were shouting at each other while Moblit prepped an oxygen tank, fully prepared to jump in after Eren.
"You go in there and you'll both die," he was saying.
"If we don't cut Levi out, there'll be three deaths," Hanji argued back.
Nile shook his head. "You cut that mermaid out of that net down there, he'll kill both your intern and your partner. He won't care that you helped him. I'm telling you, he's too far gone to recognize who's his friend and who's not."
"Yeah, you guys made sure of that," Moblit mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. Hanji could barely hold back her smirk, while Nile growled lowly at him.
However, before any of them could do anything more, they saw that a dark shape was rocketing from the bottom of the tank towards the surface. And, against the freshly risen sun, Levi burst powerfully out of the water, drawing in a desperate gulp of air once his head hit the air. Before he even finished filling his lungs with air, he shook his head, wicking the water away from his eyes, before he focused his attention back on Eren. He made sure that the boy's head was above the surface, holding his body firmly against his own. Eren's head lolled back on his shoulder, but otherwise he didn't stir. He spared a look at the shore, seeing that his sunning rocks, which extended halfway into his tank didn't have any humans on it, and it was there that he decided to swim towards. Hanji, Nile and the others watched as he pushed and pulled Eren towards them carefully, before tenderly lifting him onto them.
He rolled Eren onto his side, before hefting himself onto the rocks behind him, purposefully placing himself between Eren and the water so that he didn't accidentally fall back in. He leaned over him, gently turning his head towards him, staring at him with concern.
When after a few more moments he remained quiet, Levi felt his nervousness grow. He called out quietly, then louder, then louder still, growing almost angry at the lack of response. When Eren still didn't open his eyes, the mermaid felt his fear rise up his throat, threatening to choke him. It couldn't really end like this, could it? Eren couldn't…he couldn't leave him. He began to mewl and whimper, and nudged his cheek against Eren's desperately. His whimpering only grew in pitch the longer the boy remained still, bordering on hysterical. He cupped Eren's face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs along his cheeks, begging him in his own tongue, Wake up, please. Please don't let it end like this.
However, someone must have heard him, or Eren was far too stubborn to give up yet, because his lips parted slightly wider, weakly at first, and then more strongly, searching for air, finding none. He gasped weakly again, like a newborn, his body trying once more to draw in air, but this time found that there was water in his lungs in the way. He coughed feebly once. Twice. And then, it triggered a stronger fit, one that actually made Levi's chest hurt sympathetically to hear. In fact, Eren began to cough so strongly that the effort made him dry heave. He remained close by, one hand hovering in the air, unsure if he should touch Eren or if that would just make it worse. He found that he had to bite his lip against the urge to throw up though as he watched Eren's stomach ripple around the spasms that now gripped it. The boy had rolled over, arms trembling from the exertion of holding himself up on his elbows.
Eventually, Levi finally did set a hesitant, webbed hand between Eren's shoulder blades, unable to stand the sight of him clearly in so much pain without at least attempting to comfort him. He watched Eren's back heave as he gasped harshly for air around his coughs, his throat sounding raw and shredded. He wasn't able to stop coughing for several minutes, his face red with the exertion and sweat prickling along his hairline and back. However, once his body decided that the water was gone, it finally gave him a few moments to just concentrate on breathing, though it still kept forcing him to cough every other minute for a while.
It was then that the adrenaline bled out of him, and Eren sank, boneless, back down onto the rocks. And, despite the warmth of the summer air, he felt himself beginning to shiver, cold settling into his core and spreading to his limbs. He lay helplessly on his side once more, too weak to even lift his head again, much less curl himself up tighter to conserve warmth. He distantly hear the clatter of footsteps against the rocks, and as he lay there, trying with all the energy he had left to just concentrate on breathing, he managed to crack his eyes open and see that Hanji, Moblit, Nile, and his men had joined them on the rocks, but had stopped a few feet away. Each of them were eyeing him with different expressions. Most notably, everyone's mouths were hanging open, but while Moblit and Hanji looked openly shocked and wonderfully surprised, Nile just looked horrified.
"We need to get your intern away from him," he said hurriedly, "Otherwise Levi is going to tear his throat out."
Moblit was shaking his head. "Hold up Nile, I think"-
"No, he's in danger as long as he's near that mermaid, we need to"-
However, the man never got to finish his sentence, because at that moment, he was interrupted by a dreadful snarl that caught everyone off guard. They looked down to see that Levi was the one that had made the noise. But he wasn't making it towards Eren, oh no. He was instead leaning over the boy, holding his upper body up and caging Eren between his arms. He curled his tail around him as best he could, as if to shield him, and every muscle in his body had gone rigid. Levi was gazing at all of them with murderous intent, growling long and chilling and low, his eyes narrow slits of fury. More specifically, his intense gaze was fixed upon Nile. When the man took a hesitant step towards Levi, perhaps to make a move to separate Eren from him, the mermaid simply coiled up tighter and made a noise that made everyone's hearts pound with the sudden rush of fear it instilled in them. It was almost like a roar, but unlike any roar they had heard from any other creature. It vibrated the bones and clawed at the ears unnaturally, like the scream of an angry, undead spirit. And in the same vein, it promised just as much pain if any of them got any closer to Levi, or the boy beneath him.
In that moment, he looked every inch the feral beast that had killed the trainers at Trost Sealand.
Hanji gave a short huff of laughter, taking in Nile's shocked expression, and saying with a smirk, "Looks like you're the one in danger Nile."
All the man could do was stare, glancing between Levi and Hanji, and Eren as well, who was peeking at him blearily from between Levi's arms. He gritted his teeth, spitting, "I'll take you to court for this, Hanji. I can you know. Your intern assaulted one of my men, don't think I won't press charges."
However, she didn't miss a beat. Hanji simply leaned back on her heels, crossed her arms, and countered, "And we have documentation that says you lost your rights to Levi after you surrendered him to us. We could also press charges against you for attempted theft. And in this case, those charges would be far heftier than some piddley-ass assault charges."
At that reminder, Nile shut his mouth with an audible click. Knowing she had him, Hanji leaned forward, speaking to him in a conspirator's whisper. "Listen, I think your man there ran into a door when he wasn't looking. And I think we can both agree that we never saw each other here today. Does that sound reasonable to you?"
The man gritted his teeth hard, his jaw twitching with repressed fury, before he agreed tightly, "Fine."
He sent one last filthy look down towards Levi, who was eyeing him with equal contempt, before he left without another word, his men following after him. Hanji noted with amusement that the one Eren had punched was cradling his face with one hand, and that his jaw was already beginning to turn all sorts of hideous colors. Without any sort of prompting, Moblit nodded towards her and followed after them, probably to make sure that they left the premises like they said they would, leaving her with Levi and Eren.
She looked down at them, and noticed that Levi seemed to have relaxed immediately at Nile's departure. He was no longer hovering over Eren, but instead had sunk down so that he was laying down beside him, pressing the entire length of his body against the boy's. He was warbling and chirruping and making all sorts of concerned little grunts, nudging Eren's face with his nose.
"I'm okay," she heard Eren whispering hoarsely to the mermaid, "I promise. Just a little cold. It's probably shock or something. I'll be okay in a minute, it's warm out."
Levi 'pripp'ed quietly, before he pressed himself more tightly against him, wrapping his arms around Eren. He also wrapped his tail as best he could against around him, propping himself up on one arm and settling Eren's face into the juncture between his neck and shoulder, trying to warm up his chilled face with his skin. He trilled questioningly, tilting his head, to which the boy replied, "Better now, yes, thank you."
Levi chuffed through his nose, and then set to sniffing him everywhere he could reach, checking for injuries that he might not have noticed yet. Eren nuzzled his nose into Levi's skin, and then mumbled, "I'm going to stink like fish so bad after this."
The mermaid raised an eyebrow and tapped him firmly in reprimand with one of his tail flukes, causing Eren to grunt from the impact. In fact, that tap triggered another coughing fit, and when he saw that, Levi immediately became concerned again, rubbing Eren's back through it and offering soothing coos and chuffs to him.
Hanji shook her head fondly. "I feel like I should ask how you are, Eren, but I think you're in pretty good hands right now, aren't you?" she noted.
As if to prove her point, Levi curled a little more tightly around Eren, and he fixed her with a fierce glare, hissing threateningly at her. She couldn't help the bubble of terrified laughter that escaped her when she saw that glare, saw how rigid the mermaid's stance was, and how much he resembled a mother wildcat protecting her kitten from a bear that wanted to eat it. That expression screamed, You touch this boy and I promise I'll strangle you with your own windpipe.
"Ho boy," she laughed, "You're scary aren't you?" Hanji held up her hands. "Don't worry, I'm not going to touch him, I'm just worried about him is all."
Eren massaged his own chest with one hand, and placed a reassuring hand on Levi's chest as well. "It's alright. Easy, okay? She's not coming any closer."
Levi ceased his hissing after a moment, but still kept a wary eye on Hanji. Eren turned his head and tried to sit up as best he could towards her, saying, "I think I'll be okay. Just have to get the chills out. But otherwise no damage done- hey!"
The surprised cry was a result of Levi forcibly pushing Eren's head back down against his shoulder. Hanji could only snort in amusement as she watched Eren try to lift his head again, only for Levi to pull him back down once more, chiding him with a short, sharp bark.
"I'm feeling a bit better, really," Eren insisted, "I'm not that dizzy anymore."
Levi fixed him with a stern glare that very much reminded him of the looks his parents would give him when he tried to insist the same thing when he clearly wasn't feeling better, and knew it was useless to argue. Besides, it wasn't terribly uncomfortable here. He was laying more on Levi than on the actual rocks, and the mermaid's body heat was slowly working to stabilize his temperature. He was practically a furnace in fact, radiating warmth, and Eren wondered vaguely if it was to make up for the fact that he was often in cold water. He'd have to take his temperature sometime to see how much higher it was than a human's.
"Wait," he wondered suddenly, rolling his eyes over to look at Hanji again, "Who got me out of the water?"
Hanji just shook her head with a grin, nodding towards Levi. "Who do you think?"
Eren looked back up at him, his lips parted with awe. But Levi just looked away, his cheeks coloring faintly. He grunted dismissively, shrugging one shoulder, and Eren couldn't help but think back to something he had told the mermaid when Eren had saved him from the trap. What had it been? Something about how he had just done what any decent person would have done in that situation would have done? That appeared to be what Levi was telling him now, even without words.
Either way, it blew Eren away to think that in just three short days, Levi had gone from trying to kill him to saving his life. The boy huffed a laugh, snuggling in a little further against the mermaid's chest, feeling his stomach warm pleasantly when Levi settled his chin on his head, his throat vibrating comfortingly in a soft cooing sound. Glancing up at what he could see of the sky past the warm wall of Levi's body, Eren could see that it was clear and blue.
And the best part was, their summer together was just starting.
A/N: Chapter and its title were inspired by Blue Sky Day by Dwayne Ford. I wanted to give out a special shoutout to Iisusanii, who drew terrific fanart for this fic ages ago and dummy me forgot to link it lol. So here we go, merLevi: hey-heichou- suz. /post/168794805255/ hope-you-dont-mind-writerforthetylwythteg-but-i and merKuchel: hey- heichou-suz. tumblr post/168618555695/ done-a-little-fan-art-of-kuchel-from
