A/N: Haha, you guys are great! After this chapter, we will have reached over 100 reviews, and that's more reviews that I've gotten than any other fanfiction put together! I love it, so thank you so much! If it helps you any, you can also go to my deviant art account and read this there as well. If it's easier to view or review, then you can go there. ^^

Before I forget, to answer some questions that have come up. I update only on weekends, and mostly every week. I haven't been doing that, because I just started school, so that comes first of course. ^^ So I was thinking of changing that up so I update every other week. This way I have some time in between.

Also, as to why you wonder why I made Grisha the bad guy? Well, that's simple. I believe that, in the manga and anime, everything that is happening is HIS FAULT! *flails* But that's just me. I could be wrong. XD

And that's it for updates. I've got to say though, you guys are smarrrrt~ I was reading the comments from the last chapter (I read every one of them!) and all of you were like "HEY~! LEVI YOU HYPOCRITE!" XD Also, to Sky65, very perceptive! I didn't even think of that. In the anime and manga, the belts are a sign of fighting and hope, but in here, they're Eren's fear. Clever Sky, very clever!

Alright, I've talked enough! XD Off to... Something. Cosplay. Draw. I don't know. XD

-Misty

Song of the day: Going crazy

By: Song Ji Eun Ft. Bang Yong Kook


A Forged Wedding


Modern AU, based off of the Japanese game:
"I... Don't think I heard you right. What did you just ask me, Rivaille?"
"I'm asking you to marry me for a month. How did you not hear me right?"


Rated M for sexual content, adult language, violence, mentions of child abuse
Couple: Riren (Rivaille and Eren)
Anime: Shingeki No Kyojin (Attack On Titan)


Chapter 8:

Burn the Memories


I scanned through the document I was working on, my fingers an inch or two away from continuing my typing on my laptop. With all of the chaos in the past few days, I had completely neglected my school work. I missed two lectures and my report on a faulty case was due tomorrow. My teacher said that, if it wasn't done, I'd be held back.

That was something I wasn't looking forward too.

I had already gotten yelled at for missing my lectures. I didn't need to be held back, but this project was harder than some of the others. Some of the questions were fine, but having to explain the answers as to what lawyers did right and wrong was my issue. Like speaking your native language, sometimes you don't know how to explain what goes where; you just know how to speak it. This is kind of like that. I know the lawyer did this and that wrong, I just don't know how to put it in words.

Maybe I shouldn't have missed those lectures…

"What are you doing?" I lifted my head, seeing Levi standing against the frame of his bedroom door. He had his arms crossed over his chest, an annoyed look on his face, but that was his usual look. It didn't deter anything for me.

"Ah, j-just homework for school; I have to get this paper in by tomorrow or I'm in trouble." I said and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Sucks to be you." He grumbled and walked into the room. I rolled my eyes and smiled, but he did have a point. This paper had been set up months ago, and I, the lazy ass that I am, set it to the side. Now, as I usually do, I panic about it, make a shitty attempt at it and hand it in after working on it for only a few hours when I should have put months of effort into it.

I know all of this. I do it every time. I panic; I freak out, get it done, and then revel in relaxation. You would think I would have learned my lesson by now.

"Yeah, but it's my fault. I'll get it done." I said, slightly exasperated.

"So what's it about?" Levi asked while sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"It's a mock case, but we're supposed to identify what the lawyer did wrong in the situation and explain what it was and how to fix the situation." I explained.

"Gross…" Levi made a face to show his disgust towards the subject, and I agree that it's not the best topic to go over. "Do you know those answers yet?"

"Yeah, I know, but I can't figure out how to put it into words." I frowned as I said. "Wanna help me?" I didn't know why I was asking, but ever since his grandparents brought up the idea of Levi helping me, I thought, why not? It was worth giving a shot.

It seemed to work to some degree. Levi leaned over slightly and looked at the bright screen, eyes reading over the prompt my professor had given me. I heard him muttering to himself, quietly reading over the words. I could only make out a few words and phrases, such as, "money solicitations," and "aggregated settlement." Everything else was just a blur.

The prompt itself was three pages long, so I wasn't surprised when Levi took more than a couple of minutes to read it, the time added on for him reading over everything to make sure he had the information correct. And then I heard him say this…

"Well what the fuck kind of situation is that?"

I had to hold back my laughter, because he said it in such a way that made him sound annoyed, disgusted, disturbed, and disappointed all at the same time. I shouldn't have found it as funny as I had.

"The lawyer took money from his client illegally, giving fat ass lies about payments and settlement claims. He himself should be sentenced to jail time. What the fuck is this shit? Childs play?" This time I couldn't stop the laughter. I fell back onto the pillows of the bed and laughed heavily, my ribs hurting from the excessive laughter.

It had been a while since I laughed this hard.

"You're having issues with this shit, Jaeger? I'm worried for your future." He stated bluntly. I had to calm myself, to stop laughing for five minutes to tell him that I was totally fine with the mock situation and that I knew everything he just said, but I couldn't. I hadn't heard an outburst like that from Levi since…

I hadn't heard an outburst like that from Levi at all.

"I-I know, I just have no idea how to word it." I stuttered through my laughter.

"Exactly like I just said," He informed.

"Cursing and all?" I asked.

"Fuck yes."

"I'm sure my professor will appreciate the extra wording." I sat up from the bed and looked back at the paper I was writing. Yeah, I'd probably be expelled if I put all of Levi's profanities in there.

"There should be extra points added for that." I had gotten used to Levi's sense of humor… If I could call it that. It wasn't that he didn't have one, it just wasn't "well-toned," considering he ever so rarely tried to joke around. It had only been a few days, but it was enough time for me to understand his sparse sense of humor.

"I agree; I am an adult after all. I use that kind of language every day." I said as I typed in a sentence. "What are your grandparents doing?"

"Watching TV." I hummed, and after that, he went quiet. I typed a few more sentences before realizing that he hadn't left. He was still sitting beside me on the bed, and he hadn't bothered to say anything. I thought that he was just going over what I was writing, and it could have been a possibility that he would help, but even when I paused from typing to think up of something, he didn't speak. Finally I looked over my shoulder to look at him. His eyes had been on my screen, and when I stopped and looked at him, he looked up at me.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Levi looked over to the large windows for a moment, and then looked at me from the corner of his eyes. The look was threatening, sending a cold chill up my spine, and I couldn't stop from gulping in fear. "Rivaille…?"

"You wanna go for a drive?" He suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

"A drive. In my car. Do you want to go for a drive in my car?" He bluntly asked. I stared at him for a moment, looked to my laptop, and then looked back at him, as if quietly saying that I was too busy working on my paper to "take a drive." "I want a verbal answer, Eren."

"I-I'm working on my paper." I stuttered.

"Is that a yes or a no?" I had a feeling that, even if I said no, this was another decision I had no choice in picking the answer to.

"I-I guess I could take a break, but how long will it take?" I asked.

"Depends. It shouldn't be long." He mumbled as he stood up.

"Do I need anything on this drive?" I asked with sarcasm.

"Not really. Bring your phone if you want." He said as he left the room. I followed him with my eyes before I closed my laptop and got off of the bed. I stretched my arms above my head before leaving the room to find Levi in the living room with his grandparents. His grandparents were indeed watching TV, his grandmothers big eyes watching the man on it cook with a voracious attitude.

Now I could see where she learned how to cook so well.

"Grandma, grandpa, Eren and I are going out." Levi said to them while grabbing his keys.

"Stay safe, Levi." His grandmother said, though she was completely distracted by the cooking program on the TV to question where we were going or why we were leaving in the first place.

"Where are you two going?" Levi's grandfather asked.

"Out for a date," Levi muttered before leaving the room.

"I'll be sure to have him back at a reasonable hour." I called out after leaving the room. I heard his grandfather chuckle from the living room, but I couldn't even manage to say goodbye. Levi was pulling me out of the door before I could manage to get my shoes on let alone open my mouth. "H-Hey, Levi, slow down!" I said as he pulled me through the hallway.

Levi then stopped in place, looking back at me with another one of his unreadable looks on his face. He let go of my wrist, and I could see the red indentations he left from holding onto me so hard. He saw it too, and I saw the flash of guilt go across his face.

"Sorry…" He mumbled and started walking again. I followed close behind, though I felt skittish. He was letting off such a terrible aura, and I couldn't help but get the feeling that something was really wrong.

"Rivaille, is something the matter?" I asked, trying to get a good look at his face, but he kept his head down, his bangs hiding his eyes.

"No, I just have a lot on my mind." He said and let out a sigh.

"You shouldn't do that. It'll make your hair fall out." I informed. I saw the barest hint of a smile creep onto his lips before he lifted his head again.

"Shut up," He said. I did as told, staying quiet like he said. I knew not to mess with Levi when he was in a bad mood. To the untrained eye, people would think he was always in a bad mood, because he acted that way a lot, but after being his assistant for a few years, I knew what his mood swings really looked like.

They were not pretty.

I decided against talking after that. Even when we got into his car, even when we drove, I stayed quiet, though the nagging urge to question him was enormous. I thought he said it wouldn't take long, so I assumed that meant maybe five minutes of a drive to wherever it was we were going. I was foolishly mistaken. It was that, or he had a warped sense of time.

By the time we went over the Henry Hudson Bridge, I couldn't keep quiet, or still.

"Rivaille, where are we going?" I asked, well, more liked whined.

"Be patient, brat. We're almost there." He answered. I had a feeling that I wasn't going to get anything better as an answer from him, but I couldn't help breaking the silence with more questions. I was so bored.

"How much longer?"

"About five minutes."

"Is that exactly five minutes?"

"Yeah, just about."

"Are we there yet?"

"Eren." I had to laugh at that. The previous question had just been a joke to make him annoyed, and it did the trick.

"Can we turn some music on at least? It's too quiet." I sighed as I leaned my head against the window.

"I don't have any." He said.

"Do you have a radio?" I asked.

"Yeah," He answered.

"Can I listen to music from there?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I'm driving." I grumbled to myself as I looked out the window. I really did hate the quiet. I didn't mind it every now and then, but if it was too often, my mind wandered and I started thinking about anything and everything. It had been too often now. I didn't watch TV at night anymore, and I didn't bother plugging headphones into my phone and listen to some music to calm my nerves, because I didn't want to wake up Levi. If he had a sleeping problem, the least I could do was let him get good night's sleep.

So now my thoughts continued. Since what happened yesterday, they had been on a rampage. I kept having little flashbacks to my past, to my family, to my father. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the flash of the leather coming at me. Every time I calmed down, I could smell my mother's home cooked meals and hear Mikasa waking me up for school. When I drifted deeper into those thoughts, I thought back to hanging out with Armin at the park, him reading the numerous amount of books he had to me (I wasn't, and still am not much of a reader).

I would see my mom walking up to us to tell us we were late for dinner, and that Armin needed to go home. Then I would whine and beg for him to stay the night, because we went to the same school, and it was easier that way, because I lived closer than he did. We would walk to school in the mornings and then walk home in the afternoon to shovel through homework, him always finishing faster than me, and then Mikasa telling me I needed to focus more. It inevitably ended up with Armin either helping me through the homework, or letting me copy off of his. Mikasa didn't like it, and Armin said I should learn to take proper notes, but that was life.

That was life. It wasn't the best life, nor was it the worst, but it was my life. It was a life I had been comfortable with.

"Eren!" I jumped in my seat when Levi suddenly yelled my name. I hadn't realized that I had done it again, that I had spaced out for the rest of the drive, but Levi had woken me up with a stern shake to my shoulder and a shout of my name. "Shit, how many times do I have to call your name?" He asked.

"Uhm… S-Sorry, I spaced out." I apologized and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Obviously. Don't do that; it's fucking creepy." He grumbled as he got out of the driver's seat. I shook my head a little, my eyes refocusing to find that we had indeed finally come to a stop. Levi walked around his car to my side and opened the door, his grey eyes falling on me as I unbuckled my seatbelt to get out. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I just dozed off, that's all." I explained. Levi didn't seem to like or believe the answer, but, nonetheless, moved out of the way to let me up. I stepped out of the car and looked around to find ourselves in a park. I wasn't aware of which park it was, because I hadn't been in a park since I was a kid, let alone this one; it was beautiful though.

The grounds were nothing but grass and sparse flowers here and there, and the trees were large and tall; I had to bend backwards to see the tops of them. There were a couple of park benches and picnic tables and near those tables and benches were empty fire pits. These were even sparser than the flowers, but it was a nice idea; a warm fire at twilight and a picnic with family.

Leave it to me to create a perfect setting in my head.

"Wow…" I mumbled in astonishment.

"Nice, isn't it?" He muttered from behind me. I walked a few steps forward, the sound of grass under my feet a comforting sound. Living in the city didn't have these kinds of perks.

"How did you find out about this place?" I asked.

"I used to come here a lot when I was younger. I haven't been here in almost fifteen years or so." I looked back at him to see him pulling a pack of cigarettes out from the pocket of his pants. He lit one and took a drag, his eyes glancing around at the area surrounding us before speaking again. "It has changed quite a bit."

"How so?" I asked.

"It used to be a park for kids to play in. Then it just became a small rest stop, but no one ever comes here." He sucked in another huff of smoke and blew out, the smell strong and making my nose scrunch up.

"I didn't know you smoke." I mentioned and leaned against his car like he was doing.

"I don't. I used to, but I don't now."

"So why are you smoking a cigarette?" I glanced at him with a small smirk on my lips.

"I don't know; I felt like having one, I guess… Only one though. I don't feel like wasting my life away on a whole packet." Levi flicked the ashes off of the end of his cigarette before pulling it back to his lips.

"That's good to hear then. It's really bad for you." I stated proudly. Another thing I had been raised to believe was that cigarettes were bad, and that, if I ever touched one, my mother would lock me in my room until I was thirty.

The woman was good at scaring common sense into me.

"It is. I don't even know why I wanted one all of a sudden. I've been clean for years."

"That's good to hear too." I said, a small sigh of relief leaving me. I was happy to hear that he didn't do that kind of stuff; however, he said he had been clean for years, that he used to smoke, but he didn't anymore; the way he said that he was clean made me wonder if he was into anything other than smoking simple cigarettes.

What else had he done when he was younger?

My focus went back to the park around us. The trees were fully in bloom, and so were the flowers, making the scenery look almost movie-like. I'd only ever seen perfect areas like this in movies, but, of course, I didn't travel much to see what else there was in the world. I was sure there were plenty of places in the world, such as the beach, or maybe even a deep forest, but I couldn't say so without seeing it myself.

I heard Levi open the back door to his car, but I was still caught up in the sights around me to care much. I simply took in the sights around me and enjoyed them while I still could. It wasn't until I heard Levi say my name that I turned my attention back to him.

"Yeah…?" I spoke up. Levi's front half was still hidden away behind his car door and inside the car, but I looked in through the window to see him. There was a box on his backseat, a box I hadn't noticed before, but it looked oddly familiar. I wasn't sure why, so I simply ignored it for now. If it was important, I'd find out soon enough.

And soon enough came too soon.

Levi pulled out from his car, his head low to avoid hitting it against the roof. He stepped back, and when he did, the first thing my eyes fell on was the leather object in his hands.

My father's belt.

I fell back onto the ground, the sight of the belt shocking me and sending chills of fear down my spine. Why was it here? Why did Levi have my father's belt? Why did he bring it with him?

"L-Levi, what-"

"Calm down, Eren." He said, his voice quiet and calm. He raised his free hand to me (the cigarette still between his fingers), motioning to me to relax, but I couldn't with that belt in my line of sight.

"Why do you have that, Levi? W-When, where did you get it? I don't-"

"I said calm down, Eren." He said and pulled the belt together to recoil it and make it smaller. That didn't help me either, because my father used to do that just before hitting me with it. He had more control over it when it was shorter and seeing Levi do that made me back away. I didn't care if I got grass or dirt on me; I didn't want to be anywhere near that thing.

Levi seemed to understand on the spot. He knew what he was doing and knew that it was scaring me, and when he realized it, he immediately relaxed his grip so it could hang freely from his hand. This was a little more calming for me, but the sight of the belt, whether it was recoiled or not, still scared me.

"P-Please put it down…" I begged with a stutter. Instead of doing what I asked, Levi carefully stepped away, belt still in hand as he walked over to one of the nearest fire pits. While looking directly into my eyes, Levi tossed the belt down into the mix of broken pieces of wood, twigs, and dry grass. With the belt no longer in his hands, my muscles instantly relaxed and I felt like I could breathe again.

"Better…?" He asked. I nodded, but my muscles were shaking so bad that I wouldn't blame Levi for thinking that I was lying. He walked back over to the car again, slowly so he didn't startle me, and started digging around in the trunk of his car.

"W-What are you doing?" I asked. I wanted to get up and find out myself, but my knees were too wobbly to do that; they were practically knocking into each other. Levi appeared from his trunk again, a red tank filled with gas (I could tell by the obvious smell from it) in his hands. Again, I wanted to move away, but I didn't, simply sitting in the dirt like an idiot while Levi walked back over to the fire pit and poured the whole container into it.

Levi tossed the empty container far away before pulling the cigarette from his mouth; one last inhale before he stepped back again and tossed the lit cigarette into the fire pit. As expected, the gas quickly caught, creating a blaze that spooked even me into moving back, and I was, at least, a meter away. Levi held his arm up when the heat hit him fast before he walked back over to me. I was too stunned into moving, and noticing my dilemma, Levi sat down on the ground next to me and faced the fire to watch it burn away my father's belt. I looked from him to the fire, and then back again, my mind trying to comprehend what he had done. All that was a positive piece of information in my head was the fact that he had just burned a piece of my past into ash.

"Why…?" Was all I could mutter. It didn't make sense in my head, no matter how many times I went over it.

It didn't make sense.

"Because I fucked up." He explained. I shook my head, not able to say that I didn't understand what he meant by that. He looked at me from the corner of his eyes again, and it seemed like he was glaring at me, but the tone of his voice when he spoke again said otherwise. "Eren, tell me something; how many times did I hit you when you did something wrong at work?" He suddenly asked.

"Uh…" My brain still couldn't comprehend anything. The fire was dying down, but it was still large and burning brightly, too brightly for the middle of the day. "What, uh, what do you mean?"

"I mean, whenever you did something wrong, such as mess up a report, sent me the wrong files, or spoke out of place, how often did I hit you?" He asked again. I understood the question, but I didn't know where he was going with this.

"Uhm… Each time I made a mistake, I guess…" I muttered.

"And how many times did you make a mistake, especially in the beginning when I first hired you?" I didn't understand.

"A lot, I think. What are you getting at, Levi?" I finally asked, my thoughts catching up to me.

"I'm sorry," The words seemed to come out of nowhere to me, and it left silence for a few seconds, the only sound being the popping of embers in the fire.

"Huh…?"

"I said I'm sorry." He repeated himself. "I'm sorry for ever doing that to you."

"Uh… T-Thanks, but uh, it never really bugged me." I informed sheepishly.

"Did it now?" Levi inquired. "I always wondered why it was you flinched when I raised a hand, and why you seemed so defensive about the idea of getting hit. I always wondered why it was that your sister hated me so much. I thought she was just being overprotective, but then I realized why she was being that way. I kept hitting you. I abused you just like your father did."

"Whoa, wait, what?" Now I understood. "Levi, you aren't like him at all! I knew the differences!"

"But I enforced what you grew up dealing with. Eren, even if you don't realize it, that's what I did; I enforced it. When you made a mistake, I hit you, and you did your best not to do it again, and it wasn't something worth slapping you over the head for either. They were small mistakes, small mistakes that anyone could make, learn from by simply making that mistake, and never do it again. I slapped you over the head, and you learned through physical abuse. No matter how you fight the situation, it's the same. I did exactly what your father did to you."

"You may not even think anything of it, but it'll always be there in the back of your mind. It's a constant reminder to behave or you'll get hit, and I'm sorry for that, I really am. I wish I had known sooner so I would have never done it to begin with…" Levi finally finished talking, his eyes lingering on the fire for a few more moments before he finally looked at me. I saw something akin to surprise flash in his eyes. "Why are you crying?"

My eyes widened slightly before I reached up to touch my cheeks. Sure enough, my cheeks were drenched with tears, and when I realized this, I broke down. I tried to keep it down, tried to calm down, but it was overflowing, leaving me a sobbing mess. What made it even more embarrassing was that I suddenly fell against Levi, my face hidden at the junction of his neck and shoulder while I sobbed against him. I was glad that he didn't push me away upon contact, even happier that he didn't try to hit me, but what surprised me was when he wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me closer.

I clutched at his shirt tightly as I cried, all of the emotions from years and years of torment suddenly breaking through. I had never done this before, not with my mom, not with Armin, not even with Mikasa who has been with me even after our parents died. I never broke down, never cried. A possible tear here and there, yes, but never cried the way I was now, and it wasn't just a cry of pain. Relief washed over my body like nothing I had ever felt before. All the weight I had felt for my whole existence was suddenly lifting up off of my shoulders.

I couldn't breathe properly, because after minutes of crying, my nose was swollen to the point that I could barely breathe through my mouth. However, I hadn't felt this light and healthy since I was a kid. Levi's soothing touch on my back helped too, his voice so quiet that I hadn't heard it at first. All he was doing though was murmuring soft sounds into my ear while his fingers played with the ends of my hair.

"Hey, it's okay now." He murmured into my ear. I sighed, the initial wave of emotions finally dissipating. I closed my eyes, my eyelids heavy and ready for sleep. I vaguely tried recalling the last time I had cried myself to sleep, but I was a kid, which was all I could remember. There were no specific times or anything like that, which was fine; this could be one of those times. I had no problems falling asleep like this, so long as Levi would let me.

I shifted in place, my neck straining from the previous position. Levi's arms readjusted around me, one hand falling on my waist and the other on the nape of my neck. My cheek pressed against his shoulder, and just as sleep started dragging me away, I heard Levi speak up one more time.

"That belt won't hurt you ever again."


A/N: (Edit) By the way guys, I want to say thank you for your concern. Thank you to vamptigergal for questioning me, and I'm happy to say, no, my writing here is not from experience. That was so heart warming for you to worry that I could write like this because I had been in a similar situation, and that was so sweet. ^^ It made me want to cry! X'D No, I've never been in an experience that had me being beaten with a belt. You can ask anyone; I have this odd little... "Talent," we'll call it, for putting myself in someone else's shoes. So thank you or your concern. ^_^