Lone Soldier
Chapter 14
Eren followed after Levi. Is this why you're like this? Eren wondered. "No, this is the end of his torture, what about the time before that?"
Levi burst through the door, directing shocked stares at. A woman screamed, it fell completely silent. Eren could see their shocked, horrified faces.
Anger bloomed in his chest. How dare they! Can't they see he's scared?! Eren internally screamed.
"Help!" Levi pleaded, tears forming in his eyes.
Silence and terrified faces answered his pleas.
"Please someone help me!" Levi cried. "I don't want to be like this!"
"Someone call the Military Police!" Someone yelled.
Then it became chaotic, everyone scrambling to get away from him, yelling and screaming in terror. Mothers shoving their curious children away, while fathers ran to get the Military Police. Levi curled into a ball, trying to be as small as possible.
"Hi."
Levi looked up, by his wings stood a small child with smile, dirty blonde hair, and light brown eyes. His mother stood farther away, completely shocked.
"Why are you crying?" The boy asked, putting small hand on Levi's wing.
"Because no one will help me." Levi hiccuped.
"I'll help you!" The boy chirped happily.
"NO!"
The boy looked at his frozen mother, confusion written all over his face. "But Mommy, can't you see he's hurt?" The boy asked.
"Honey, we don't know what he could do to us," The mother said. "He could hurt us really badly."
"No, no, if you don't want to help me... I'll just... Survive on my own..." Levi sighed sadly.
The mother's eyes widen in surprise because of how childish he sounded, "How old are you?"
"Um... I believe I'm nine years old..." Levi answered keeping his gaze downwards.
"You believe? You don't know your real age?" The mother asked confusedly.
"Um... I might be ten..." Levi confessed. "I didn't really have a sense of time locked up in there..."
"Do you know how old you were before you were taken?" The mother asked.
"I... Think I was eight... Maybe seven..." Levi answered unsure.
Levi... You lost your mother at such a young age, then you get forced into... That... Your life is such a mess, Eren sighed sadly. "How did you stand it?"
"Were you always like... This?" The mother asked moving to stand next to the boy.
"No... They turned me into this earlier..." Levi explained. "I really don't want to talk about it..."
"What about your mother? Do you know where she is?"
"My... Mama...?" Levi blinked. "She's... Dead..."
"What about your father?" She asked.
"Never knew him..." Levi shrugged.
Distant yelling caught Levi's attention, his eyes widening in fear. Loud bangs of gunshot rang by them. Levi threw himself in front of the mother and child, trying to flap his wings. He managed to get airborne, before quickly grabbing them and slowly flying away. Bullets whizzed by them, Levi trying his best to shield them from the danger. Instead Levi found himself in incredible amounts of pain, but he pushed on, as he listened to the mother's whimpers of fear and the boy's excited cries. He had no idea where they're flying, but the gunshots started to lesson, so he assumed he's going the right way.
Levi landed roughly, letting go of the mother and child, before collapsing, wheezing in pain. He heard panicked screams, as his vision slowly faded to black.
Eren had no idea where the hell Levi went, he can't fly... Or can he...?
"I am like a ghost, right?" Eren asked himself. "Does that mean I can fly too?"
Eren jumped, flailing his arms... It seemed to work but he ended up face planting into the dirt.
"Ow... Looks like I can't fly..." Eren said, wiping his face with his sleeve.
A bunch of guys holding guns and wearing uniforms came storming through not too long ago, barking orders at each other to find Levi as quickly as possible. Eren saw the direction Levi flew off to and they were shooting at him, but strangely none of the Military Police actually went that way, which puzzled him greatly.
Setting off in the last direction Levi was heading, Eren ran through many alley ways, passed many dying homeless people, carts of days old food, sick looking children, and chubby people who looked like they would be considered to be the rich people around here.
Pangs of guilt, pity, and anger coursed through Eren. How dare they let all these people die, not giving any of them help! Most of them don't even look like they can afford proper medicine! Those poor people...
Eren passed many Military Police, they all looked well fed, healthy, and selfish. He saw a child get pushed down just for asking for a little food.
This isn't fair! Why aren't they helping them, even a little!?Eren wondered angrily. Stop, I need to focus on Levi, not trying to change something that already happened.
Eren's pretty sure he knocked over a few barrels and carts, since he often heard angry shouts behind him... But Eren couldn't concern himself with picking up whatever he knocked down, not when Levi is in danger.
All he could hear now is his heart beat, bumping wildly in his chest. He huffed in exhaustion, but pushed through it, right now Levi is in trouble and that's all Eren could focus on.
He ran, until the buildings began to look older, more worn down. It grew darker, as there are fewer lights in the houses. The sound of people faded with every step... Smells of rot getting stronger and stronger... Houses now practically rubble...
Then he saw it... A single black feather laying in the dirt...
Eren slowly approached the eye attracting feather, quickly jumping to conclusions... Tears welled up in his ragging ocean eyes, as his chest clenched painfully. Eren carefully picked up the feather as if it were to break under slightest touch.
A painful emptiness settled in his chest, as his breath grew heavier and ragged. An unsettling sense of numb spread across his body, Eren suddenly felt suffocated and claustrophobic, even though he's out in the open. Eren fell to his knees, clutching the soft feather to his chest, as he gasped for air, that seemed to avoid his lungs.
"Levi... I'm... I'm... Sorry..." Eren sobbed.
Eren's cries of sadness filled the eerie silence around him, as the tears flowed down his cheeks like water falls.
"Why? Why? Why?" Eren whispered.
He remembered Levi's short height, his pale skin, his shiny black, his fiery attitude that could send anyone running for their lives... His cleaning obsession, his stormy grey eyes... That always seemed to rain and spark into a storm... How beneath that storm there's calm blue skies... Oh, how Eren yearned to see that rare sky, to see Levi for who he actually is... Now that will never happen because... Levi is... Gone...
"Whatever happened to seeing the ocean together, eh?" Eren asked the rocky ceiling.
Eren awoke with a gasp, his hands clutching something to his chest and his cheeks damp. He looked in the palm of his hand, only to find the same black feather as in his dream...
"Holy hell?!" Eren cried, dropping the feather. "How, how, how did that... I thought... What?"
He peered at the feather like it was his best friend's dead corpse that somehow moved from its grave, but is curious as to how it got here.
He poked it, thinking it's an illusion of some sort. As soon as he touched it only fluttered slightly from contact, Eren pulled his hand as if it burned him.
"It's clearly real," Eren observed. "How did it get here? I saw it in my dream..."
Eren picked it up, shoving it in his pocket, then looking over at Levi. Eren saw him tossing and turning in his sleep, his eyebrows furrowed even more than usual. Levi constantly mumbled something underneath his breath, as dirt got stuck in his hair, making him look a bit like the little Levi in Eren's dreams. Sweat covered Levi's skin and he seemed to be clutching something in his hands.
Eren just blinked until he saw blood start to seep between Levi's knuckles, staining his already blood soaked cloak. A whimper left his lips, causing Eren to jump to his feet immediately. Worry graced his features, as he saw tears gather at Levi's eyes, before slipping down his paler than normal cheeks.
Eren rushed to his side, unsure what to do...
If I wake him up and ask what's wrong, he'll just blow me off, Eren thought helplessly. I guess I should probably take whatever he's holding away, so he doesn't hurt himself anymore than he already is... Then what, though?
He tried to gently open Levi's hands but Eren couldn't even move them. So he tried to pry them open, but they stayed stubbornly closed, creating a larger stream of copper blood to drip from his hands.
So clearly I can't do that, so what can I do? Eren wondered.
Levi's whimpers kept getting more and more frequent, as he restlessly tossed and turned. Eren lied down in front of Levi, staring at his closed eyes. He placed a hand on Levi's back, pulling him closer, until his head was pressed against Eren's chest.
Levi flinched away from the touch, slightly thrashing in Eren's grasp, before settling down with small squeaks. Eren rubbed soothing circles on his back with a sigh, as Levi's tense muscles slowly relaxed and his settled down into a steady breath, rather fearful huffs.
"What in the world are you dreaming about, Levi?" Eren asked Levi's sleeping form.
Levi woke up to an unfamiliar warmth surrounding him, making him instantly freeze, fear clutching his chest.
Why am I sleeping with someone? What happened? Who is this? Levi squeezing his eyes shut. Well you'll never know unless you look, dumb ass!
Opening his eyes, Levi was met with a chest squished against his face. Slowly looking up, Levi saw tan skin and messy tree trunk brown hair. Releasing a breath of relief, Levi quickly realized what kind of position they're in. He immediately pushed Eren away, a small bit of pink creeping onto his cheeks.
"What the hell, Jaeger!" Levi cried angrily.
"Hmm, wha-?" Eren said, clearly half asleep.
"Wake the fuck up!" Levi shouted, pulling on Eren's ear.
"Ow, ow, I'm awake! I'm awake!" Eren cried.
"Why the hell were you... You holding me when I was asleep?!" Levi asked outraged.
"Why were you whimpering in your sleep?" Eren retorted.
"Wha-" Levi said taken back.
"You were crying, you kept tossing and turning, and you even cut yourself in your sleep," Eren pointed out accusingly. "What were dreaming about?"
"Bleeding?" Levi said confused.
Yea and you're still holding whatever cut you earlier." Eren pointed out.
Levi looked down at his hands, finding a blood covered, jagged rock in his grasp. Levi threw the rock to the ground as if it was causing his inner turmoil.
He looked down to his blood soaked hands.
"They look like... The blood I've spilled over the years..." Levi muttered.
A giant gash lay across his hand, with dry blood sticking to the skin both on and around it.
"Levi that also means that you have to explain why you were so afraid of me earlier, in the water."
Levi just stared at his blood soaked hands, the dirt on them far from his mind.
"Captain?" Eren called.
What?
"Heichou?"
Stop...
"Hey? Are you okay?" Eren asked, closing the distance between them.
No... I'm never okay... Levi thought with tears welling up in his eyes.
"Levi? Please answer me..." Eren pleaded, placing his hands on Levi's shoulders.
Levi looked up at Eren with glassy eyes. "Why won't you leave me alone?"
Eren's eyes widen in shock, as he stared into Levi's cloudy eyes, that are getting ready for a storm.
"Levi... I-I... Just want to help you..." Eren said dumbfounded.
"But you can't," Levi sobbed. "You can't help me..."
"Just please, tell me what's wrong..." Eren said gently.
"Why does it matter?" Levi asked quietly. "It's not like it'll fix anything..."
"I'll do my best to fix your problem!" Eren exclaimed. "I promise Levi!"
"You can't promise that..." Levi muttered. "You shouldn't make promises you can't keep..."
"Yes I can and I will fulfill that promise!" Eren said stubbornly.
"No... You can't," Levi looked down to the ground. "You can't fix anything no matter how hard you try..."
"Yes I can," Eren argued. "My mom said that I can fix anything out of sheer stubbornness."
"Well this is one thing you can't fix... No matter how stubborn you may be..."
"No matter what you say, Levi I will fix it!"
"How can you fix something that's already broken beyond repair?!" Levi screamed.
"I-I..." Eren stuttered.
"See... You can't..."
"Then I'll pick up up the pieces and glue them back together," Eren cried. "No matter how many times I fail!"
Levi looked up into Eren's unwavering eyes, searching for any tiny little thing to prove his statement to be fake.
"You really mean that, don't you..." Levi said sadly.
"Yes, I do." Eren answered peering into Levi's spotted soul.
"You better not make me regret this... Brat..." Levi mumbled.
"What are you talking about? When have I, the great Eren Jaeger, make you regret anything?" Eren flaunted.
"You sure you want me to answer that?" Levi asked skeptically.
"No thank you," Eren chuckled. "I hope you realize that you're still going to have to answer my questions from earlier, right?"
Shit! I thought he forgot about that... Levi sighed.
When I said soon, I didn't mean almost a month later... I am so sorry for the long wait! School started now and I couldn't the WiFi to work on this damn thing, UGH! It's so annoying... Anyway, hope you liked it and don't forget to review! I love hearing your reviews, (even though it's just to say that the chapters are too short :\ ) I still appreciate you taking the time to review :)