A/N: Gah! Sorry for the wait! We honestly don't have any other excuse than that Iz was too lazy to upload it :p Sorry for her uselessness. But here it is: chapter 9! Thank you for all of the feedback so far :3 we love reading your comments. Enjoy!
Trigger warning: mentions of rape
Disclaimer: SNK belongs to Hajime Isayama. This fanfiction belongs to us
Chapter 9: Let sleeping dogs lie
Everything stopped. The fighting, the commotion... All of it. Everyone froze in shock, Titan and human soldiers alike. The steam was still in the air, but it had dissipated enough so that what it was once covering was now completely visible. Where the young alien by the name of Eren had once stood, was a monster.
It stood taller than most of the buildings in the city, it's body made up almost entirely of muscle. The creature was nude, yet there was no visible genitalia on its body. Long, chestnut hair fell over its face, leaving only it's large and menacing mouth visible. The creature's bangs parted, revealing glowing emerald eyes. The same eyes that belonged to the young alien. It glared down at the humans below, an intent to kill radiating from the monster. The people below stared in awe and horror, then they noticed something. One of its massive hands was curled protectively around a small human. A human that they recognized as Levi.
Erwin stood there in mortal terror. He had no idea what was happening. A living creature of that size should not be phisically possible. However, Hanji stood behind him with a huge, idiotic grin on her face. She was so fascinated with this new creature she was being presented with. Erwin was not so intrigued. He was scared, and confused. The eyes. The face. That utterly terrifying mouth. He stumbled back, and landed on his ass, staring up at the monster who was holding Levi in fear. What was this creature going to do to him? He didn't want to stick around long enough to find out.
Levi stared at the beast who was holding him. Was this... Eren? Although his appearance was different, there was something unmistakable about him. He was at a loss for words. How did Eren do this? He was petrified, unable to try to break free of Eren's grasp, but he didn't necessarily want to. He felt... Safe, somehow. He relaxed his body.
"... Eren?" He asked carefully. The creature gave no hint of a reaction to his words. Levi looked into his eyes. They were filled with the same burning rage that was in Eren's eyes only moments before, and Levi had no doubt the the alien and this beast were one and the same. He saw Eren's mouth open slowly and release an ear-splitting roar. Then the soldiers began shooting.
Eren covered Levi as much as his hand would allow, and took the bullets. They had almost no effect on him, ocassionally scraping some skin off, and causing heat to be expelled from the small wounds. The cuts got deeper and deeper into his skin, but the skin grew back seconds later. The ground forces were running out of ammo, most of their guns clicking instead of letting out the usual firing noise. The officers soon came to the realization that their efforts were in vain, and began to back off from the huge creature.
Those who still had ammunition continued shooting at Eren, hoping to find an opening of any sort. The villagers took this chance to evacuate and get away from the human soldiers, who were preoccupied with Eren. The giant swung at a group of the soldiers on the ground, and they scattered. The ones who were unable to escape were thrown against buildings due to the force of the blow, though if they were unconscious or dead Levi was not sure.
This Eren scared him. This was not the boy that he knew. He knew that he had promised Eren, but he still couldn't help the growing unease and fear that plagued him as Eren swatted at the soldiers like flies. Then, a sharp pain hit his cheek and he could feel a warm fluid trickle down his face. He touched it and his fingers were coated in crimson when he removed them from his face. Blood. A bullet grazed him. And Eren... Eren saw this. He let out another roar and knew that he was going to kill them all. Every. Last. One.
Mikasa and Armin stared in the direction of where the roars and steam had come from. When they saw the massive form in the distance, they turned to each other, horrified expressions on their faces.
Mikasa was almost angry at Eren. He knew of the restraints to his powers, and the conditions that must be in play for him to have permission to shift. A city invasion of a more primitive race that only uses projected metal as ammunition couldn't have been enough of a threat for him to shift. It just didn't make sense. The two began towards Eren, their maneuver gear springing into action as soon as they could use it. They raced towards the gargantuan figure as fast as possible, both hoping Eren didn't do anything irrational.
As they approached, the commotion grew louder. They could hear the screams of both humans and Titans, as well as Eren's angry roars. They grappled onto a taller building, and looked at the scene presented before them. It was a bloodbath. Dead soldiers were strewn across the ground, Eren's hands were stained with their blood. Mikasa and Armin could see some of the soldiers being helped to safety, and they could almost say that they were relieved. They didn't like it when Eren killed people. Every time it happened, his giant form took over and he rampaged. It was difficult to get him back to normal. They saw him clutching something or someone and they grappled forward for a better view. It was Levi.
Levi was pounding at the giant hand that encased him, shouting at Eren. They could make your bits of what the man was saying. "Eren!" He screamed. "Stop! Get ahold of yourself! That's enough! You've done enough! Turn back to normal right the fuck now!"
Eren didn't respond. He continued to thrash at the soldiers. Armin knew what was happening. "Mikasa..." The blond boy spoke up. "It's too late to stop him from losing control. He's already gone."
Mikasa looked over at Eren with eyes full of pure rage. It was hard to believe Eren resided inside of this monster. "We'll need to force him out of that... thing. That monster. We need to cut him out," Mikasa stated, not removing her gaze from her brother.
Armin nodded with a very worried look on his face. He was not looking forward to any of this. This was out of hand. They both raced towards the giant monster, hoping they could save the city's population before it was obliterated by Eren. They could see Levi frantically flailing in Eren's hand, trying to break free of the creature's firm grasp.
As they flew towards Eren, Mikasa turned to Armin. "Try to get close to him. Try to reach Eren through the beast. You've bone it before and you can do it again. While you do that, I'll use the opportunity to cut him out. Do your best to make sure Levi does not get injured. "
Armin gulped, slightly nervous as to if this was going to work or not. He'd been able to snap Eren out of it before, but... He's never lost control on this scale before. "Y-yes..." He nodded and zoomed around Eren, grappling into the beast's forehead. Eren didn't notice. Gently, Armin planted his feet on the bridge of Eren's nose, staring his giant best friend in the eyes. He saw Mikasa land on a nearby roof to wait for an opening. Slowly, Armin placed his hand on Eren's nose and took a deep breath.
"Eren..." he said, his voice low and calming. "I'm going to need you to snap out of this now." He got no reaction from the giant.
Armin grasped onto Eren as hard as he could, almost falling off while Eren swung at the ground. "Eren. Listen to me. You need to stop. Now. You're hurting these people! This could start a war!" Eren once again swung at the ground, ignoring Armin's attempts to gain his attention. "Eren! Listen to me! You're scaring Levi! Can you hear me? You are scaring Levi to death!" Eren responded to this.
He stood still, unable to move at Armin's words. He looked down to Levi to see the man flailing in his hand, yelling for Eren to stop. For a split second, a sliver of compassion showed in Eren's eyes, and Mikasa saw this as a chance to save him. She flung herself into action, flying towards Eren's neck at amazing speeds.
She landed on his nape with a soft thud and carefully aligned her blades. If she was slightly off, she knew that there was a chance of Eren dying. She inhaled and plunged the blades into Eren's flesh, some of his hot blood splattering on her clothes, hands, and face. Eren... I'm so sorry... she thought as she could hear the giant roar in agony. She couldn't wait any longer or else she would blow her chance.
Quickly, Mikasa made two deep, overlapping cuts with her blades, cutting Eren out the way they were instructed to in the case of an emergency. His limbs would be severed, but they would regenerate, resulting in no long-term consequences. Mikasa winced as she heard Eren roaring in pain and anger.
Eren began to collapse, roaring in pain as Mikasa's blades severed his steaming flesh. He began falling, landing on his knees and then proceeding to fall onto his torso.
"I'm so sorry..." Mikasa confessed, almost crying at her knowing how much pain she was causing her beloved brother. Eren's screams began dying out, and his grip on Levi began to lighten up. Levi tried to climb out of his now limp grasp, and was sucessful. He fell out, and as soon as he could gain his footing, he began running towards Mikasa, who was still perched on the giant's neck.
He approached the girl, glancing at the incisions she was making on the back of Eren's neck.
"Mikasa!" He called and she looked over to him, tears in her eyes.
"Levi..." She said quietly.
"What the hell happened back there? To Eren? Is he okay?" Levi was slightly panicking, worrying about the boy whom he had grown so find of.
"Eren... Eren is what we call a titan shifter. Annie is too, and there are a few others as well, but Eren... He can't always control it. We have to forcibly remove him." She turned her attention back towards her brother and finished up the incisions, carefully removing the chunk of flesh and revealing Eren's back. She tugged at her brother, disconnecting him from the tendons and muscle that still bound him to the beast. Levi hurried beside her, helping to pull Eren out. When he was free from the monster, the first thing Levi noticed was the steam from the monster as it began to collapse. Then he noticed Eren's arms and legs. They were partially severed.
"What the fuck?" Levi exclaimed. "His fucking limbs are cut off!"
Mikasa pulled Eren off of the giant's corpse. "They'll grow back." Mikasa reassured, the same solemn look plastered on her face.
"I don't..." Levi ran his hands down his face, sighing. He was so confused. He just wanted to go home. Where things were normal. Where he had quiet meals with Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. He didn't want any of this. Would Eren be punished? He couldn't just get away with this. What would happen to him? Levi dreaded to think.
Armin maneuvered over to them and landed gently beside the two. "We need to get off of this before it breaks down. It's already beginning to."
Levi looked at the beast and indeed, steam was rising up off of the carcass, some of the skin and muscle dissolving along with it.
"Okay," Mikasa stated monotonously and picked up Eren carefully. He hung limp in her arms. "Come on, Levi."
Levi nodded and followed them off of Eren's nape, sparing a few glances back at the giant. He still had a hard time believing what just happened. As soon as the trio stepped off of the beast, a crowd of earthen soldiers surrounded them. Mikasa held her brother tighter, a furious look in her eyes.
The soldiers converged on them, all aiming straight at Eren. They remained silent, moving towards them. The leader of the group raised his hand, about to signal for open fire, when a figure launched at him from the distance, and by the arrival of her gear, sliced the man's head off, landed on the ground, and slid towards the group. Levi recognized her as Annie, from Jean's party. The head of the group's leader rolled behind her, spewing blood like a hose.
The soldiers stared in shock at the blonde alien girl. Her expression remained unchanging as she glanced at the head on the ground. One of the soldiers spoke up.
"S-stay right where you are!"
Annie just stared at him, looking bored. She got into a position to attack when another soldier spoke.
"Stop! We don't want to fight you! We just want the human!"
Mikasa glared at the soldiers, anger bubbling inside of her.
"You are not fucking taking Levi away and I will do everything in my power to-"
"I'll go."
Her head whipped around to Levi, not believing what she had just heard him say.
"... What?" The soldiers as well as Mikasa all seemed to say in unison.
"I said I'll go with you. If that's what it takes for you to leave these innocent people alone, then I'll fucking do it," he walked towards the earthen soldiers before turning back to Mikasa. "Take care of that brat for me. I know you will." The soldiers placed cuffs around his wrists and escorted him away. The three aliens stared after him.
"Levi..." Mikasa said, a hint of shock in her voice. Armin placed a hand on her shoulder.
"He'll be fine. I know he will." He tried to reassure her.
"I hope so..." She said slowly, still staring after the soldiers and Levi. "I really hope you're right."
Levi awoke and found himself inside a tent in a human military camp outside of Shiganshina. The cold night air quickly snapped him into alertness.
"He's awake! Exclaimed a woman's voice whom he recognized as Hanji. Levi saw Erwin's head swing into view.
"Hey there. Feeling better now?" The man questioned. Levi spat at Erwin. He jumped back a bit, avoiding the spit very narrowly. He laughed. "Quite a feisty one, aren't you, Levi?" The black haired man did no more than snort at the blonde man, still unforgiving of what he did all those years ago. The man had aged, a bit of grey now showing in his hair. Most likley from stress, however.
Levi tried to move, but found his hands to be secured to a stone block via shackles. He growled. "Why the fuck are you doing all of this?"
Erwin feigned somewhat innocence. "It is our duty to recover all living members of a team if they are missing or unable to return."
"Yeah, right," Levi scoffed. "I doubt your intentions for getting me back were that kindhearted."
Erwin laughed. "Yes, you're right. My reasons for wanting you were selfish. But it turned out to be a good thing coming here in the end. We were able to recover Petra-"
"What?" Levi stared at him in shock. "Petra is dead."
"That's what we thought, too. It turns out that the arm with her vital sign sensor was severed, causing her to be classified as dead."
"Where the fuck is she?"
"She's in the medical tent at the moment. She did a very good job of treating her amputation, but still requires proper medical attention."
"Let me see her."
Erwin chuckled. "You need to stay here, where I ca-"
"Let me fucking see her, asshole," Levi snapped. Erwin's facial expression changed at Levi's words.
"Calm down, Levi. You can see her, sheesh, don't be like this."
Levi looked at Erwin angrily. "After what you fucking did to me, how the fuck do you treat me like nothing happened? I swear, you have no feelings whatsoever. You act like I still have feelings for you; like I'll ever want to be with you again. How? How do you just blow it off?"
Hanji put her finger on her chin. "What did you do to him, Erwin? You never told me."
Erwin looked down. "I don't want to talk about it."
Levi looked up, an angry look on his face. "No. She deserves to know. Tell her what you fucking did to me, asshole. Tell her right now."
Erwin sighed. "Levi, please-"
"Tell her!" Levi snapped. "Tell her how you fucking raped me! Tell her how you lost control when I said I wanted to break up with you!"
Hanji gaped. "Erwin... Why-"
"TELL HER, ERWIN!" Levi interrupted. "LET HER KNOW ABOUT THE MONSTER YOU REALLY ARE-"
"SHUT UP, LEVI. JUST- SHUT UP." Erwin barked, a dark look spreading across his face. "Just shut up..." His voice trailed off and he sank to his knees, hiding his face in his hands. The room fell silent.
For the first time in her life, Hanji felt confused. She was always on top of the situation, knew what was happening, even if it came out in a way that made her look crazy. But she really couldn't wrap her head around this. Erwin, her boss and friend for many years, who she thought she knew everything about, was a rapist? And the victim was Levi? If she knew this, she would have never built the portal. But why would Erwin do such a terrible, unforgivable thing? Thats not like him. It just wasn't possible.
Levi was still fuming, wanting the words to escape Erwin's mouth. 'I raped Levi Ackerman when he said he wanted to break up with me.' Thats all he wanted- Erwin to admit to his awful crime.
"Erwin..." Hanji began. "What is this all about..?" She was honestly scared of the answer. She almost didn't want to know what happened. Erwin let out yet another sigh before speaking.
"I... I was drunk-"
"Like that's a fucking excuse," Levi remarked crudely. Erwin's eyes shot up to meet Levi's and the smaller man noticed that they were filled with... Hurt?
"Levi... It's not like that-"
"Then what the fuck is it? I was calling off what should have been called off a long time ago, and then you get furious with me and go as far as to rape me. Why do you have any right to be angry? I was the one that was beginning to be used as a fucking sex toy-"
"Levi, please," Hanji interrupted. "Let him finish talking."
Levi huffed, and gave in to Hanji's requests. He let Erwin continue.
"I was drunk," he sniffled, as a tear drifted down his face, "and Levi came into our apartment. He was angry, and a little bit sad as well it seemed. He sat me down, and began to talk about our relationship, and where it was heading. But in the middle of this conversation... I admit, I began to get a little angry... And even somehow horny-"
Levi let out a subtle laugh, and muttered "A little horny? "
Tears were now flowing out of Erwin's face. "He began talking about how he said he wasn't happy with how I was treating him."
Hanji nodded in acknowledgment to show that she was listening. "Go on."
"He kept saying how he felt like he was just being used as an object and how I didn't care for him anymore. And he was getting angrier and angrier as he went on, and when he went as far as to say he hated me... I snapped. It wasn't even out of sexual desire. It was out of pure anger mixed with alcohol. And then I... I can't remember."
Levi let out a dry laugh. "You can't remember? Bullshit. You know exactly what happened. You fucking slapped me and pinned me down, calling me a 'selfish bitch' and that I 'was ugrateful for everything you had given to me.' When I tried to escape, you pinned me down harder, and tied my hands to the table. You overpowered me and raped me because you were angry with me. What kind of reasoning was that? 'Oh, my boyfriend is breaking up with me so I better rape him to make him stay.' Bullshit. Complete. Fucking. Bullshit."
Erwin was covering his face, completley ashamed of what he had done. "It wasn't like that, Lev-"
"Oh really? It wasn't fucking like that? Well what was it then? What excuse do you have for doing such a thing?"
Hanji had to agree with this, Erwin really didn't have an excuse for this kind of thing. But she couldn't help but feel bad for her employer. He truly loved Levi. He was sobbing now. His tears covered his face and the ground below.
"Levi, I was drunk and angry. Please, please forgive me, I really don't have an excuse but please. I love you. I need you, Levi. You are my life."
Levi remained unphazed at Erwin's words and only looked at the man with disgust. "Like hell I will," he spat out and made a futile attempt to remove the shackles from his wrists. He heard Erwin's sobbing stop and the man click his tongue. Erwin looked up, his expression hard and stern, as though he had never been crying. The way Erwin could change faces like this almost scared Levi. Erwin stomped over to him and knelt down in front of him. With a strong hand, he gripped Levi's face and looked him dead in the eye.
"Now listen here. You are going to come back with us, whether as my lover or not. We're leaving as soon as we figure out what to do with this planet. Do you understand?" Erwin snapped. Levi only spit in is face in response. With a grimace, Erwin wiped it off and then slapped Levi across the face. Hard. Levi's head was violently whipped to the side from the impact. His cheek was on fire and he could taste blood in his mouth.
"Fucking animal..." He heard Erwin mumble. "Come on, Hanji. We need to check up on everyone else."
Hanji gave a worried look in Levi's direction. "But-"
"Now, Hanji. Come." Erwin stalked out of the tent and into the camp. Sparing a few glances back over her shoulder, she hesitantly followed.
And so Levi knelt there, awaiting what would happen to him. He wanted to be back with Eren. The one he truly loved. Not Erwin, the fucking maniac that he despised. He would find his way out of this, and back to Eren. Back to Mikasa. Back to Armin. Back to home. Where he belonged. Where he was accepted.
He tugged against the shackles once more, but knew that it was useless. He'd have to find different means of escape. As he was trying to come up with an idea, a girl's ear-splitting shriek shook him out of his thoughts.
"No! Let me go! Give him back to me! Stop it! Why are you taking him from me?! Please! No! EREN!"
END CHAPTER 9
Sorry for the cliffhanger :p not sorry at all
So that's another chapter in the can. As always, please review. We really want to know what you think of this story so far and let us know if there's anything you'd like to see c: thanks!
See you in the future!
