Levi looked up when he heard a low grunt and grumble coming from the bundle of blankets on the other coach. He then turned his complete attention to Eren who was now peeking out from the mountain of blankets and looking at Levi with bleary eyes.
Levi had then got up to check the boy seeing as Hanji had warned him that the child was currently fighting a flu in which she had berated him for allowing the boy to be caught out in the cold rain in the first place, but before Levi could step any closer to Eren, the said boy immediately jerked backwards with his eyes widening in fear.
Levi froze before retreating and sitting back onto the sofa which he had previously taken residence on.
Eren did nothing in response but only continued to stare at Levi intently before speaking in a quiet, raspy voice, "Are you going to kill me?"
"And what would I gain from that?" Levi said with a harsh frown although he couldn't help but pity the brat. Eren merely shrugged in response although his whole body remained stiff with fear even though his eyes betrayed him by looking at Levi with a strong sense of trust. It was as if the child knew he shouldn't rely on Levi, and yet, at the same time found no reason not too.
Levi continued to watch him for a few minutes before giving out a heavy sigh of exasperation and annoyance as he walked towards Eren and sat down next to the boy. Levi could immediately feel the younger boy's body freeze in fear but Levi merely patted the top of Eren's head which, after a few minutes, caused the other boy to slowly relax into the soothing gesture.
"I promised I would bring you home, didn't I?" Levi spoke calmly as Eren nodded his head in response before the boy leaned towards Levi's warmth and slowly began to drift back to sleep. But this worried Levi. They boy truly had no home to return to for the child had yet to understand that his parents were dead and that the building he yearns for had been burned to the ground by Levi's own two hands. And Levi hated the fact that the one promise that he wanted to keep would end up being the only one he couldn't help but fail.
000
It never struck Levi until this very moment how much of a nuisance Hanji could be. Correction, it had never occurred to him how much worse the dear scientist could get from her already bubbly personality.
The said underground scientist finding great fascination in interacting with a mere child which included laughing obnoxiously and playing with Eren as if he were her own son. The taller women being easily amused by the most simplest tasks that Eren was capable of achieving while at the same time commenting on how much more well behaved the young child was compared to the grumpy, grouch glaring in the corner which Levi had immediately hit her atop the head for the comment.
For a few hours Levi could forget that Eren was in possession of a potent virus that was currently killing him, that Levi is now a wanted man by both the police and his former employer, and also the fact that Hanji was dying, but as the sky darkened to dusk and the moon suddenly shrouded in ominous black, Levi was suddenly thrust back into reality and forced to remember.
Hanji had locked herself up into her basement without a word of excuse, and Levi could only watch her sadly as the scientist disappeared around the bend. Eren had curiously tried to follow, but Levi had immediately grabbed the child's arm and jerked him back towards the living room where the two were currently residing in seeing as Hanji's house was more of a small shack then that of an actual decent house, and bedrooms seemed near impossible.
It was there that Levi lay restlessly on the coach, his eyes staring intently at the ceiling as he listened for Eren's breathing to even out into gentle breaths and for the cricket's orchestra to finally dim into single chirps of solitude. It was then that Levi allowed himself to get up and walk slowly towards the hallway that lead to the basement where Hanji had yet to reappear.
He had then slowly creaked upon the door which was oddly silent before descending down the stairs in slow deliberate steps. The room was dark and smelled of musk and a pungent odor of death. The only source of light within the windowless room being a single candle which was already beginning to wane as the fire dimmed and the candle melted into a pool of wax. Glancing quickly around the room, Levi could see Hanji sitting on a simple wooden chair, her eyes staring intently at pages and pages of documents and former works over the years before her gaze turned upward towards Levi in surprise when the man purposefully stepped on a creaky floorboard to alert her of his presence.
Her eyes, hardened by work and frustration, immediately softened upon seeing Levi walking towards her. The man staring at her curiously before his eyes lightly skimmed the pages she was currently reading before he let out a small sigh of defeat.
"I assume you have yet to find a cure." he asked although it sounded more like a statement rather than a question.
Hanji gave out a forced laugh in response before shaking her head sadly in defeat. The brown locks of her hair falling freely with each movement.
It was a known fact for all those within the underground that Grisha Yeager had distributed his new unknown virus to all illegal science departments in an attempt to finish his unachievable work. Hanji, having gotten her hands on one of the exported genes, was one of those scientists who was given a weaker strain of the virus to study and analyze it in hopes of improving it for further use and attempt to finish Yeager's work.
But, as the saying went, curiosity killed the cat.
Hanji became infected with the very disease she found so fascinating and thus changed her goals from enhancing the Yeager virus to creating a cure. A task just as impossible as the mysterious disease itself, and that is where Levi found himself now. The assassin watching his former best friend struggling to create time that she no longer had the luxury to enjoy.