On the way home to the castle, Levi had made a promise to himself that he would finally start getting some answers to the questions that he had stored up, but of course, that didn't end up happening.
As soon as he got one foot in, he was nearly knocked over by Armin who had run up to him and gave him a great big hug. Levi couldn't help but hug him back just as tightly. He had missed the blonde boy and was very glad to see him again. Jean was just as excited to see the old man, but he would never admit it.
Just when Levi thought he could get some questions in, Armin had some questions of his own.
"Uhh, I hate to ruin this sweet moment, but… who the hell are those guys?"
Levi swatted Armin upside his head and said, "Don't you fucking curse!"
Armin was about to retort, but he decided that trying to win an argument with Levi was like trying to cheer up Eren when he got into 'drama queen mode', you just couldn't do it.
Levi was about to introduce Mikasa, but when he turned around he found that the girl was clinging hard to his pant leg.
'I swear, this girl is gonna be the death of my pants…'
"Armin, this is Mikasa. Mikasa," He said gently as he squatted so he was on the younger girl's level. "This is Armin. He is a really good friend of Eren's, so I think you will like him."
The girl's eyes widened at the mention of Eren's name, and she ran up to the older blonde boy.
Looking at him with wide eyes, she said, "Y-You know Eren?"
Armin, unsure of what to say, nodded slowly. At this, Mikasa's began to smile widely and jumped up to hug the boy around his neck. Armin blushed and looked to Levi for help.
"What," he chuckled. "From what I've seen you're great with kids."
"No, Christa is great with kids. Armin is not. How'd you find this kid and her dog anyway?"
Levi quickly glanced to Jean, unsure of what to say, and Jean just looked away, whistling.
'Thanks for nothing, jackass.'
"W-Well, I stumbled across her on my top secret mission. U-Um, her doggie walked up to me and said- "
"Oh for crying out loud, she's the Witch of the Waste Armin! She's got a curse on her." Jean said, fed up with Levi's sorry excuse of a lie.
This caught Armin off guard and he immediately tried pushing her away from him, but her tight hug was too strong.
"Th-This is the Witch of the Waste!? Levi, how could you let her in here!? Sh-She's the one who cursed you!"
Levi sighed as he picked up his beloved fat doggo and rubbed his head.
"I know, Armin, but she's just a defenseless kid now. Besides, as much as I hate to say it, I should be thanking he. She's the reason I have a fam-… w-why I met you guys."
Armin pretended like he didn't here Levi cut himself off, and smiled.
"Well, I guess you're right. Besides, if it wasn't for you, we'd be drowning in filth by now."
Levi chuckled, but he was cut off when Mike started sniffing loudly, as if saying "Hey, don't forget about your favorite doggie boi."
"Oh, and this is Mike. He just walked up to me and started following me around so I guess he's mine now. Apparently he was the Queen's dog, but now he's mine so she can suck it."
Armin just laughed that one off, and returned his attention to Mikasa. Levi was content with just watching the two of them interact, but a wave of exhaustion just rolled over him. He decided that it was time for everyone to go to bed.
'My questions will just have to wait until morning,' he thought as they all laid down for the night.
'I guess I'll also have to find a way to break it to Jean that I crashed the solo-cruiser into the castle…'
-Line break-
It was well past midnight when Eren had returned to his castle. He made sure to return to his natural size, but he couldn't do anything about his haggard and in-human appearance. He slowly opened the door, but not before casting an invisibility spell on himself.
Levi didn't need to see him like this….
He crept into the castle, shutting the door behind himself, and trudged past Mikasa and the Queen's dog. He passed by Jean, who was starting to wake up from his footsteps, and stopped in front of a young, sleeping Levi.
His hollow and gaunt eyes softened at the site of the young man. The raven looked to peaceful as he slept, like a child unaware of the dangers and heartaches of life. He had vowed that he wouldn't let Levi see him like this, like a monster, but now Levi knew what he truly was on the inside. The wizard didn't know why, but the thought of this made his chest hurt, so he decided that a nice hot bath would help him to forget how badly his heart ached.
He was surprised when he heard Jean's shocked gasp from behind him.
"Ohhhh, this is bad. You've gone too far you suicidal bastard!"
Eren simply looked at Jean with a blank, tired expression. Jean kept looking from him to Levi with a frightened expression. He almost forgot that Jean could see him even when he was invisible. Eren assumed that the little demon thought his mind had been taken over by his titan's psyche, and that the monster he had become was seconds away from pouncing on the unsuspecting sleeping raven.
Eren almost felt hurt at this thought, but he decided that assumptions weren't something worth being hurt over.
"Shut up, horse-face…" His monotone voice rang out as he turned away from Jean and began walking up the stairs to the bathroom. He was too tired to argue with Jean over his own poor decisions.
Yeah, he could really use a nice, warm bath to clear his head….
-Line Break-
Levi awoke with a start. He could have sworn that he heard growling coming from upstairs, but he had no idea as to what it could have been.
"I wonder if Eren's back home…." He said softly, before gasping at how young his voice sounded.
He looked at his once wrinkled hands, only to find that they were as smooth as they had been since the day he was born. He would have cried from how happy he was, he even saw his hands become blurry as his eyes moistened, but he quickly realized that he didn't have time for this. He need to see if it was Eren making that noise.
Pushing himself up from the mattress he had been sleeping on in the floor, he made his way over to the dinner table in hopes of lighting a match, but he was shocked to see that there was already a lit candle there. He grabbed the candle by its holder, still suspicious of it being lit up, and made his way over to the stairs.
He took one last look towards Mikasa, Mike, and Jean, only to find that they weren't there. He began to feel unsettled as he made his way up the stairs, not even caring about how much noise he was making.
As he got closer to the top, the growling got louder, and the young man began to feel uneasy at the noise.
"Eren? Eren!? Are you up here!?"
The more frightened and uneasy he felt, the fast his legs began to carry him. He stopped running when he realized that he was at Eren's bedroom door.
The growling was so loud that he could barely hear the sound of his heart hammering against his chest.
He hated this. He hated being afraid. He hated being confused. He hated being alone.
His shaky hand let go of his nightshirt, which he had been clutching ever since he started walking up the stairs, and carefully reached for the door knob. Once he grabbed it, he stood there for a moment, too afraid to move. What if it wasn't Eren behind this door? What if it was something even more terrifying and monstrous?
It was now that he realized how loud and shaky his breathing had gotten. With what little ounce of bravery he had left, he twisted the knob and swung the door open, ready to face what was on the other side.
As soon as he re-opened his eyes, which he hadn't realized he had closed, the growling stopped. He stared into the dark void that was Eren's room. His trembling hand held the candle into the room so he could see inside.
He quickly realized that this was not Eren's room. It looked like some sort of cave made out of various trinkets. Clutter was hanging from the ceiling, and he couldn't even see the floor what with how much junk was on it.
He took a slow step into the quiet, dark room. Once he was fully inside, the door slammed shut behind him. He gave a not-so-manly shriek that echoed all the way into the long cave.
Before his nerves could get the better of him, he decided that he needed to keep going. He needed to find Eren.
As his legs carried him further into the cave, he just kept reminding himself of that fact.
Yeah, once he found Eren, everything would be okay. Eren would keep him safe. Eren wouldn't let anyone get to him. Eren-
Before he realized it he had found himself standing in front of two separate pathways. He was unsure of which one to venture into until he heard the sound of heavy breathing coming from the pathway on the left.
He decided that this was the way he needed to go, so he slowly walked until he came upon a curled up figure sitting on the floor.
The figure was naked, covered with gashes and blood stains. It was also twitching sporadically. Levi was about to high-tail it when he heard the figured breath deeply.
He tentatively stepped closer to the curled up mass until he was right next to it.
"E-Eren, is that you?" He asked, keeping his voice as steady as he could.
The figured curled even further into itself more, covering its face with its hands.
"A-Are you in pain? Tell me what's going on."
Eren growled, something that Levi couldn't believe was directed at him.
"Go… away…."
Levi stood up straight and looked down at the beast before him.
"No, I'm not going away. I'm going to help break the spell that you're under!"
A loud, rumbling growl from Eren startled the poor boy, but he was not ready to leave Eren yet.
Eren moved his hands until Levi could see one wide, green eye staring right at him. That once calm sea of green was now deranged and angry.
"You… You can't even break your own damn spell! You useless bitch, you can't do anything!"
Levi didn't want to believe that this was Eren speaking to him. He had been called much worse things at his uncle's brothel, but this was the first time words like that stung the way they did. He felt his face heat up as his eyes began to fill with tears.
"B-But you don't understand. I-I love you, Eren!"
He hated the way his voice cracked, hated how pathetic he sounded, and most of all, he hated the way Eren laughed at this.
"How could you possibly know what love is!? And what makes you think I would ever love a hideous coward like you!? Besides… you're too late to do anything for me."
After the wizard had grown to an enormous size, he took off into the dark cave.
As Eren's form faded into the darkness, Levi felt his whole world crumble beneath him.
"Eren!"
-Line Break-
The castles shaking caused Levi to bolt up from his sleep. He was breathing heavily as he looked around to find that he was back in the living room, laying on his mattress.
As if trying to reassure himself that he wasn't still asleep, he looked at his hands, only to find that they were still old and wrinkly.
He gave a sigh of relief as he turned his attention to Jean, who had been calling his name since he woke up.
"Woah, Levi, you okay? That looked like a pretty nasty nightmare you were having and- Wait… a-are you crying?"
Levi wiped his face, only to find that his hand came back wet with tears. He quickly wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his nightshirt and pretended that Jean hadn't just caught him crying.
"N-No, I'm fine! I-Is Eren back?"
"Yeah, he went to go take a bath. He looks terrible. You better figure out how to break this spell on us quick! Eren's running out of time!"
Levi didn't even ask what he meant by that, he already had a feeling.
"Why can't you guys just tell me how Eren got cursed in the first place!? Maybe that could give us some clues!"
"I can't tell you the details of the curse and you know it, fella! Now stop yelling, you'll wake up our guests!"
Levi stood up from his mattress and walked up to Jean.
"Do you know what the Queen said? She said that Eren's heart got stolen by a demon. So tell me, demon-boy, what do you know?"
Jean looked away nervously and said, "I-I'm so sorry but that would be confidential information."
Levi rolled his eyes. That dream had worn him out, so he didn't even feel like arguing with Jean. He waved the fire-demon off and went to go sit back down on his mattress. He could feel Jean's eyes burning holes into the back of his head, so he looked at the demon with a dead-panned expression.
"What?"
"N-Nothin'! It's just… Were you dreaming about Eren?"
"What makes you say that?"
"Oh nothing… You just called out his name, that's all."
Levi blushed and glared at Jean.
"How about you mind your own business?"
Jean scoffed at this.
"Says the guy who was just interrogating me! Let me tell you something, just because you're an old man doesn't give you the right to- "
Levi began to tune Jean out as he laid back down and closed his eyes, intending on getting some more hours of sleep.
Hopefully his dreams wouldn't be as frightening.
-End of Chapter Twelve-
A/N: Sorry for taking almost a month to actually update, guys. I don't know what I did to deserve great readers like you! I know this chapter isn't exactly what I promised, but I'm still pretty proud of it.
All in favor of getting back to the fluffy stuff say I! *Yells out infinite "I's" *
Preview: The guests get settled in and the house needs some renovations.
