"Wake up Eren! You're going to be late for school"
Levi is standing over the boy's bed, backpack in hand, taking off the cover - making Eren curl up to try to conserve the heat.
"Mmmgmm...5 more minutes mom", an obviously still sleepy Eren replies, turning the other way and getting back to sleep.
"Come on Eren, you have roughly 20 minutes to get ready, and then I'll drive you to school - chop chop!", Levi says, and then walks out of the room.
It's been a year since he came to live with them, and in that year he started to get better, even if just a bit. He insisted that he would help out with the chores, even thought every time he moved to wash the dishes he would almost had to physically fight Mrs. Jeager , who, even now, seems hell bent against making him do any kind of work.
So he cleaned the house, always enjoying a clean and tidy place - also it helped with making him think of something else. There has been no improvement on the investigation, a little voice in the back of Levi's head growing louder and louder, saying "she's probably dead" , the alternatives being too awful to think about - Mikasa was-is? Levi doesn't know how to address that - young girls that are on the streets normally don't have a good time, Levi feeling awful for even considering that possibility.
He thought that his bond with Eren would somehow deepen, but, if anything , it appears to have regressed a bit - the boy is nice and polite to a fault, but he never opens up, or want to spend time together. Levi thinks it's because he's a constant reminder of who isn't there, and when Levi thinks that that may be a reason for the boy's behaviour he's tempted to march into the room and giving him a piece of his mind - he's not the one who has lost his family, goddammit! But he stops himself every time, deciding instead to give the boy his space - after all, he needed that as well.
"Is Eren awake yet?" Carla asks from the bottom of the stairs, while getting ready to go to work. While Levi wasn't a big addition to the family expenses, Carla still thought that it might be best to find even a small part time job, to have more money on the side, for any eventuality - after a bit of time spent applying, she found a part time job as a doctor's consultant, which she always addressed as being "A fancy name for nurse/secretary" - Levi still wasn't sure if she actually liked it or not, but she would dismiss the questions any time, so he ultimately decided that if she was ok with it, then so would him.
"The usual stuff, right now he should be getting out of bed - don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't miss school, you go to work"
"Thanks Levi - and how about you? Do you need any sort of help?"
"Don't worry about me, Mrs Jeager - let me handle myself from now on. You've been a tremendous help and I'll never be able to properly repay you, so just don't worry and go to work. I'll clean up in here"
Eren popped his head out from the room, having heard the conversation between Levi and his mother. Still sleepy, he makes his way downstairs, where he meets them, and without saying a word, prepares himself some cereals. "Alright then - Eren, I'll see you later on - bye!"
"Come on Eren, you better get faster, because you really don't have much time"
The only acknowledgement from the brunette comes in the form of a nod - while Levi has been able to somewhat get better, Eren has completely changed character, from the over excited and hopeful kid, to an introverted apathetic kid, who seems to have an endless supply of rage stored inside him. The fact that the police haven't been able to do anything changed Eren's perspective on life in general - If you want something done, you have to do it on your own. Relying on other people isn't worth it
Levi can only watch the brunette keep eating his breakfast, obviously not caring about the time constraint. Levi had also changed during this year - he became colder, and more calculating. He had taken a year off from school, choosing homeschooling to continue his education - driven as he is, he had no trouble adjusting to the new normal, and actually improved his grades, which, just before graduation is a good thing to have.
He still is in a relationship with Petra, and the connection has gotten stronger - what happened last year between them only served as a reminder that they cared for each other tremendously, and didn't want it to go to waste. So they helped each other, and still do.
"I'm going to get dressed, I'll be ready in 5"
It really seems like the only one who has gotten worse is Eren, Levi thinks. His classmates have started to get back to normalcy, a fact that Eren didn't like. The first time he had seen Armin laugh at something Sasha said, apparently he almost screamed their heads off:
"How can you be having fun when Mikasa is still missing?!"That only caused his friends to slowly but surely get away from him - they still consider Eren a friend, Levi is sure of it, but noone would risk saying something that would only result in Eren scream at them.
"Eren, you can't pretend that they always be sad - you're kids, and young, you need happiness in your life"
"We don't know how Mikasa is feeling right now! How can I be happy when she isn't? How can I be at rest when she's scared?"
That was the last time Levi and Eren had talked about her - the past month they've exchanged pleasantries, but nothing more. Eren had basically closed himself into a shell, and refused to come out.
"I'm ready Levi, we can go, thanks again for bringing me"
"No problem Eren - you got everything right?"
After a quick nod from the brunette, they both make their way towards Levi's car. As soon as the duo entered the car, Levi speaks, his tone more serious than normal:
"Eren, you can't keep shutting everyone off. You should know that this is arguably more difficult for me than it is for you - and I'm telling you, you're not supposed to suddenly forget about her or constantly be cracking jokes. Just...pay attention to what your friends are doing - they're hurting too, and you screaming at them because they smiled isn't going to make either you or them feel better"
The boy doesn't reply, he just looks straight ahead, as if he didn't ever hear him
"We're going to be late, Levi"
Levi makes his way through the cemetery, a bouquet of flowers in hand, looking straight down at his feet, the route by now memorised perfectly.
He stops at a pair of gravestone, polished marble looking new, even thought it's basically a year old.
"I brought you new flowers, mum - your favorite, tulips. They were the last ones, had to fight an old lady for them - sorry I couldn't bring your favorite thing, dad, I asked and apparently a bottle of jack daniels isn't the most appropriate thing to leave at a headstone"
A small smile creeps its way on Levi's face.
"Mrs Jeager is still as nice as ever, I swear that woman must be an angel - endless patience for everyone. Every day we almost fight when she sees me holding a broom to clean up"
He waits until an a couple of people pass by, cordially saying "Hello" to both.
"Things with Petra are still going strong - I did tell you both, that I wasn't going to screw up. We have our problems, of course, but no couple is perfect - except you, I can't think of a single time you fought. Or maybe you fought all the time and you just hid it from us. But I don't think it's like that."
A small pause grows.
"I'm planning to bring her to that fancy restaurant we kept on seeing at the end of the boulevard, you know the one that seemed snobbish - it's for our 2 years anniversary, so I wanted to see the inside for once"
Levi swallows air, getting ready to talk about the next subject.
"The police still has no news - they did see a car on a cctv camera coming towards our street and getting out, the timings coinciding with the...you know"
A pause.
"But they haven't managed to find anything else"
"They said that they are still looking for her, but so far nothing worked. I didn't want to ask for how long they'll keep a high priority on it, for all I know it's already been put down on the list."
Tears start to collect in Levi's eyes.
"I'm sorry that I came late. I- I'm sorry that you had to face this alone. I probably wouldn't have been able to save you, but...but at least I wouldn't be here as well -" The feeling of shame hits Levi like a ton of bricks, immediately clarifying "Because I would've fought, and protected you, and maybe f-forced them to also kill- to also kill her"
The last part comes as a small whisper, ashamed of even saying that "I hate the fact that she's alone - I hate the fact that she thinks that no-one is coming to help her! I hate that I have to go to sleep and wake up and be safe when she's probably dead or worse!"
Levi by now is fully crying, sobs wracking his body, kneeling in front of the tombstones.
Suddenly a pair of arms encircle him, and he finds himself hugged by Carla, who had come to pay a visit to her friends as well.
"I can't do this...I- I know Eren feels this way too, and I don't know how to help him, since I don't know how to help myself...I...can't do this anymore..."
Mikasa is woken up by a loud bang coming from her door of her room, and she uses that word with a grain of salt, since it is more of a small cabinet.
Elena walks in, dressed to the nines, and sits herself next to Mikasa, who is trying to get up the bed.
"Hello beautiful! I hope you slept well, because we have a busy day in front of us! Someone booked you for all the afternoon, and let me warn you, he likes a fighter, if you know what I mean"
Sadly she knows too well what she means - this past year has been hell for her. Every day they used to forcefully train her to service people, gradually getting broken down by more and more slaps - until the fear of those slaps was too strong to handle, and she just meekly accepted any type of humiliation and degradation they had in store for her.
These people ran a child trafficking operation - for people with sick fantasies, ones prostitutes wouldn't even dream of accommodating. So they turned to them, paying them very high sums of money, in order to play with her. And to avoid any sort of "insubordination" on her part, Elena made sure to give her a couple of hits, with the threat of doing something worse if she didn't play along.
Her day to day activities were this, and clean. She has given up the fight, and she's ashamed of that. She wishes she could scream, and fight, but everything hurts. And she's afraid.
She's alone.
"Come on beautiful! We have to get you ready for your client - as I told you, he likes a fighter...so..."
A punch hit Mikasa square in the face, knocking her on the ground, making her spit blood.
"We have to put some touches to make you one, beautiful"
Mikasa doesn't reply, she wants this to be over.
Just kill me already
She can only feel pain, from punches to the face, and slaps. She's not even attempting to cover herself, knowing she would get punished with even more pain. She wants to cry, but she fears the repercussions of that.
"Gotta say, a bit disappointed in you - so easy to break your spirit. But this way it's also easier to fix you up - now get up, you have to clean up the room before noon"
Mikasa is still lying on the ground, sure she has a concussion, not understanding what the woman said. She wants to move, the constant threat of pain still bearing down, but she can only manage to slide her hands and feet across the floor, crawling towards the room.
Suddenly a pair of big hands lift her from the floor, and drag her towards the room she needs to clean - "When we say you need to do something, you do something, got it, princess?"
It takes all the strength she has to not cry.
They don't like it, hold it in!
She forces herself to grab the wet rag, and clean the floor, slowly at first, then faster after the first threats come in from the man. She hates him. She's scared of him more. By the time she finishes, it's noon, and they give her just enough food to survive - sometimes she wishes that she was strong enough to not eat. She had tried that, not eat for 1 day, but the hunger quickly took over any plan she had to stop being in that place, one way or the other.
"Time's up beautiful! The client is here - remember, strong and firm expression, ok? Fight!"
She can see Elena enter with a stranger behind her, who is looking at her and licking his lips.
And with that, Elena locks the room and leaves.
At first, nothing happens.
Then, hell breaks loose.
The raven doesn't want to get up. She almost can't from the pain alone. The man had started hitting her immediately, calling her names and screaming about how they were all the same, same ungrateful and condescending monsters. Mikasa couldn't hold in the tears that spilled from her eyes - apparently the man had liked it, slapping her harder to make her cry more.
Then he did what he came for. She forces herself to not think about that, the process being extremely painful and violent.
She is still naked, her clothes in shreds on the floor. She wants to cover herself and curl up and die there, she wants this to be over.
Instead she still lives, cursed with living this life for how long she will live, probably - if nothing happened for a year, it's never going to happen. She came to that conclusion even before the year mark.
No-one comes and checks on her, passing in front of the opened door and just seeing if she was breathing, then continuing on.
With her remaining strength, she manages to cover herself with the tattered remains of her shirt, and closes her eyes - hoping that the darkness that envelopes her will be permanent.