A/N:
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Updates and progress for all my fics and art and cosplay can be found in the 'My Works' link on my tumblr, as well as on my Instagram ( haruka_hourou)
zirii: It's still short but hopefully still good!?
Chapter Eight– Dear Rabbit – Part 4
Nearly two weeks had passed since Levi returned to the precinct from his vacation.
It was rough at the start, especially for Levi, locking Eren in her room- turned cell- every morning before he left, and spending his lunch breaks driving across town just to spend a measly ten, sometimes fifteen minutes depending on traffic, with her and making sure she ate and was feeling well. As well as a soon to be eighteen-year-old girl could feel while being locked away for the better hours of the day and afternoon.
For the first several days, Erwin questioned Levi's sudden want, to eat his meals separately from him, but they were both adults, and his coworker had always been on the peculiar side, not to mention his less than reputable background. Although Erwin wanted to know the reasons behind his partner's odd behavior, he respected Levi enough not to survey him with questions. Erwin was also certain that his partner's odd new habit had something to do with the missing girls' cases that the department had been hammered with for the past three weeks.
Levi seemed a bit more distant that usual, Erwin simply chalked it up to being his way of coping with things. The missing Eren Yeager girl, likely weighed heavily upon Levi's mind, making him seem to be not all there.
As it stood, they had no leads aside from the names of the three, currently-MIA, but at this point, very likely deceased men, whose blood was found in Eren Yeager's apartment. Erwin knew Levi had been working fervently to find any proof that would link the only suspects to the infamous legion, the man looked like he hadn't slept for days, it was alarming, but Levi was a grown man. He could make his own decisions and he knew his limits, or at least Erwin hoped he did, particularly when it came to his health.
As the weeks progressed, Erwin grew increasingly impatient with the stagnant, almost nonexistent progress of this particular missing person's case. He'd begun contemplating whether or not to ask their superior to just take Levi completely off the case, it didn't seem to be doing him any good, especially whenever they thought they'd finally found a lead, only to have their plans blown up in their faces as they were led to yet another, literal dead end.
The homicide rate for young women and teenage girls was alarming. In the past three weeks alone, three girls had gone missing, two of those missing girl were found dead. Both of them had been brutally mutilated, one was disfigured almost beyond recognition, yet the first missing girl, Eren, had yet to be found, dead or alive. Seeing as they had yet to find a body, or any parts of her body for that matter, the department, and her friends, could only hope that she was still alive, and simply hiding, or being detained somewhere.
Erwin had honestly suspected Levi to be behind the Yeager girl's disappearance, but when Levi had returned from his brief leave, and the bodies of the girls started popping up, he had to reconsider his private list of suspects. He knew Levi well, they'd been partners for nearly five years now, and he knew for a fact that Levi would never hurt someone who he deemed was non-threatening or defenseless, let alone kidnap and murder young women. Young women, who seemed to have no other correlation aside from their ages and…appearances. Whoever was going after these girls had an odd interest in young females with brown hair and green eyes.
The department was left to deal with the grief-stricken parents and families, concerned friends, and even more terrified mothers and grandparents calling in, in maddening volumes, concerned for their green eyed, brunette children and grandchildren. Whoever was doing this was either a sick fetishist with too much time on their hands, or someone trying to make a point. Someone who was meticulous and hell bent on leaving a very unique, and gruesome calling card, one that set both Erwin and Levi on edge.
Sooner or later we'll find her, and until we do, they'll keep dying. Make your choice.
Them.
Or Her.
Four days before Eren's eighteenth birthday, she sat in the room she'd nicknamed her 'cell' for the twelfth day since Levi had returned to work. She'd been incredibly anxious for the first week of her holding, pacing back and forth, jumping in place, screaming into her pillow to muffle her cries of anxiety and dread, and sleeping to try and suppress as much of her anxious energy as she could, only waking to eat and spend a few quiet moments with Levi before she was locked away again.
She hated Mondays and Thursdays. On those awful days, Levi had to be at the department by 6AM, which meant waking up before 5AM to prepare for the day and get to the office on time. Levi hated being late as much as Eren hated being woken up and moved to the cell at 4:55 AM every Monday and Thursday.
Eren stared at the small clock on the wall and watched the seconds tick by. One. Two. Three…Forty-three. Forty-four. Forty-five…Fifty-eight. Fifty-nine. Zero. One. Two. Three…
She soon nodded off to sleep, slumping against the soft, fresh sheets, letting her bored mind wander. Her only freedom now lie in her dreams, where she was able to run around the house unsupervised, to go outside and smell the fragrance of the spring's first blooms. Where she was free to get fresh air, and not breathe the stale, recycled air that ran through the ventilation system of the house. How she longed to be in the sun again, to take a long walk whilst watching it set in the sky, and to greet the lesser light of the moon as the greater of the two faded, to light up the other side of the world; to dance in the rain; to see Mikasa; to listen to Armin tell them about another of his most recent reads… to just be free. She didn't want to be caged like some animal, being fed and kept like a prized poodle or a delicate young rabbit.
The sound of keys rattling brought Eren's consciousness back to the surface, she slowly pushed herself up from the bed, then smiled upon seeing Levi's, still fully uniformed figure, leaning against the door frame.
"You're back." It was a statement, rather than an observation. Eren hastily stretched and hopped out of the bed, eager to stretch her legs.
"I am. How are you feeling?" Levi watched her closely as she approached the opened door.
He let out a surprised huff when she wrapped her arms around him. "Welcome home." After getting over the initial shock, caused by the affectionate gesture, Levi wrapped his arms around Eren's soft, warm body.
"I'm home." He breathed out; too tired to reprimand himself and show the restraint he'd been barely able to keep, the past several weeks.
Their tender moment was interrupted by an angry grumble originating from both of their stomachs.
"I'm hungry," Eren grinned and met Levi's amused eyes. The two stared at each other in a tense silence for a moment, before the tension was swept away with the soft giggles that escaped Eren's throat, which were soon accompanied by Levi's own, subdued, but robust laughter.
Being with Eren made him feel human. She didn't treat him like the monster he knew she should, like a wild beast that needed to be caged, rather than be the one to cage the defenseless and naturally faultless creature. He was a monster, but she still greeted him when he came home, she talked with him and encouraged him to share his day with her, she shared her meals with him, allowing him to eat with her, and bask in her perfection, her beauty…her complete and pure innocence. The snow white innocence he longed to have for himself, to drape over and shroud his bloodstained past and his filthy, undeserving tar black soul.
They sat at the small dining room table, eating in a comfortable silence, save from the rumbles of Eren's stomach and the slurping of sauce.
"You never answered my question."
"Hmm? What question?" Eren said in between mouthfuls.
"How are you feeling?"
"Ah…oh um, fine I guess. Tired."
Levi scrunched his brows, his tone now full of concern, "Tired… are you not sleeping well? Nightmares?"
"N-no, not anything like that. I've been sleeping okay…and the nightmares aren't that bad. Really." She paused and twirled the noodles on her plate, picking up the fork and stabbing it into a piece of chicken. Levi said nothing, patiently waiting for her to continue. "It's just that…well, I was wondering…"
He sighed, "What is it Eren? If you want something, you know all you need to do is ask. The worst that could happen is that I'll say no. So go ahead, what is it?"
"I-I really don't like being locked in that room!" She rushed the words out so quickly that it almost surprised Levi.
"I know that, but we both know why I do it, Eren, trust me, I don't like it either." His expression grew grim.
"But… I won't try and run again, so why can't I just be free in the house all day? I'd like that a lot better, and you wouldn't have to come all the way back just to let me out for lunch. I can cook and even clean if you want. Anything really, just please don't lock in there again!" Levi opened his mouth to counter her plea, but she continued on fervently, cutting him off, "I live here too now, so why is that I feel so unwelcomed? Shouldn't I be able to walk around my own house? Is that really too much to ask!?"
Eren stared at Levi, holding as intense a look as she could muster under his powerful gaze. Her lip quivered, and she bit it to still its motions. She was scared. But she was also certain that he wouldn't hurt her. It was that faint glimmer of hope she held onto, that quieted the voices in her head and restrained the terrors of her nightmares. It was that certainty, which she prayed right now, would work in her favor to calm the storm quickly forming in Levi's features.
'He won't hurt me, he's not like them,' she tried to quiet the voice, 'stay calm Eren, stay calm and stay firm. Do not yield. Not to this.'
Get away from here.
Her eyes grew wider as the manic look in his features raged on, the lip biting hardly helped still her quivers, so much so, that she bit through the soft flesh, puncturing her bottom lip and continued to bite down harder, disregarding the coppery tang that seeped into her mouth and spread across her tongue.
He's coming.
Levi stood, the force and speed with which he did so, knocked the chair backwards. His heated gaze focused on Eren as he rounded the table and stood in front of her seated and now trembling form.
"Eren." He reached forward, and firmly gripped her face, forcing her jaw open with his thumb and index fingers, trying to pry the guilty canines away from the abused flesh of her lower lip. "Eren stop it."
They're coming.
She stared up at him blankly. 'Huh, what is…why is he so close? Stop…stop what?...I-oh…I don't feel so good…'
Her breathing became more labored, as she found it increasingly more difficult to take oxygen sufficient breathes.
"Eren?" Levi's eyes grew wide, his hand fell from her face and he gripped her shoulders to prevent her from falling back.
Her heart started beating faster. Run, they're coming Eren. Run. They'll get you if you don't…RUN. Her skin turned red, the faint tan she had, quickly masked by the angry flush that came with the sudden increase in her body temperature. Run. The sweat began to build and run down her forehead, cascading over her pink cheeks and dripping from her ruddy nose. It's too late. They're here.
"GET AWAY NO DON'T TOUCH ME NO!" Eren screeched, flailing, kicking, and scratching at Levi's face, arms, hands. Whatever she could reach. The pasta she'd been eating fell to floor, the ceramic dish shattering as it sent the tomato-sauced meal spilling to the ground. A piece of the broken dish managed to graze Eren's leg and a small trail of blood slid down the appendage to join the miniscule puddle that formed from the fragments lodged into the bottom of her wildly stomping foot.
Within moments of the initial attack, Levi had Eren restrained in his arms and pulled away from the table and the mess of ceramic, spaghetti, chicken, and blood that was now splattered across his dining room floor.
Her thrashing and screams continued as he tried to take her to her room. He needed to treat her foot as soon as possible lest she lodge the ceramic pieces in further. He needed her to stop fighting him, and to stop screaming.
With both his hands occupied with restraining her and holding her off the ground, he had few options available to silence her banshee-like screeches. With a moment's hesitation, and a quickly whispered, "Please forgive me," he pinned her to the wall and slotted his mouth over hers, swallowing her bellowing cries with as platonic of a kiss as his desire laden system could sustain.
At first, it seemed like his efforts were fruitless, as she continued to fight against him, but as she began to run out of air, her anxiety-high mind, too frazzled to allow her brain's involuntary commands of breathing to get through, she stiffened in his hold. Eren rested her weight against Levi and fell limp in his arms as her need for oxygen became greater and more pressing than the rapid amount of adrenaline surging through her veins.
When Levi felt her weight leaning more fully on him, he wrapped his arms tighter around her, then pulled away, separating his lips, from Eren's widely agape mouth. Taking this opportunity, he hurried to her room and carefully placed her atop the covers, taking special care to cradle her head and prop up the injured foot.
After making sure she was stable, he dashed to his bathroom, located the first aid kit and nearly sprinted back to Eren's side, ready to remove the ceramic debris and thoroughly clean and treat her, unintentionally, self-inflicted injury.
When Eren was finally resting comfortably on the bed, foot propped and wrapped up; Levi let his exhausted body, slump against the wall and slid to sit on the hardwood floor. He let his head fall forward, resting on his hands, propped up by his knees, and closed his eyes, intending only to rest for a few moments before picking himself back up to go and clean the colossal mess on his dining room floor.
'What the hell was that, why was she screaming…Eren…what's wrong,' he scrunched his hidden brows in frustration, 'what have I done to you…?'