Hello Everyone!
I apologize for this being kinda late ' this chapter was originally going to be a LOT longer, but I decided to just leave it off where I did and save the rest for a new chapter.
Hope you enjoy!
Levi's POV
Every time I open my eyes in the morning the darkness I experience during sleep from behind my eyelids isn't alieved in waking. And no I don't mean in some weird and depressing metaphorical sense. I mean that all the living quarters are fucking underground and I have to keep all my room lights off so I can actually succeed in getting some decent rest every now and then. But hey you live with any situation for so long and before you realize it the notions become second nature. So after swinging my legs over the side of my bed, I let myself stretch my arms above my head and pop the air sockets out from between the vertebra in my spin before lazily reaching my arm out and turning on my bedside lamp. Now enough light so everything in the bedroom is distinguishable, I make my way over to the connected bathroom that is for my use and my use alone. God I'm so glad we don't have something completely repulsive like community showers. After stripping off the grey sweats and black tank top I slept through the night in, I wet and coat the bristles of my electric toothbrush in my spearmint toothpaste, then as I start brushing my teeth turn the shower on to give the water a chance to warm up. After a good three minutes of brushing I clean off the brush and wash my mouth out with water before taking a good, long, hot shower. Well, if you consider twelve minutes long for a shower that is. The rest of my morning routine consists of me towel drying myself off, blow drying the long black fringe part of my hair that slightly obscures my face, and dressing in whatever the hell I feel like. And today that just so happens to be a maroon short sleeved V-neck cotton shirt, dark grey slim fit jeans, black combat boots and a black leather vest with lapels. Leaving the vest open, I grab my black smartphone off the bedside table and head out to eat breakfast on the second floor with whoever else is both here and awake. On arrival after the quick elevator trip, it really doesn't surprise me that there is barely anyone in the cafeteria at the moment. There never are a lot of people in here at any given time of day to be honest. I myself am only making my way through to grab a cup of coffee before driving out to meet my sister and best friend for breakfast. I'm just glad I had a car before coming to live and work here at Survey Allegiance, because not even my budget is good enough to be able to do something like save up for a car. Then again most people don't really keep their outside connections after moving here to typically it's not even a big deal. By the time I get my coffee (black, naturally), get to my car, get buckled in and get the engine turned on I'm almost finished with the hot caffeinated beverage. I decide to just down the rest before zooming out and down the mountain. Yeah the office is built into a fucking mountain it makes it a real god damn joy to go drive somewhere into any kind of actual normal residence of civilization. I decide to turn the radio in the car on to what is basically the only decent rock station on air in this area. Steven Tyler's voice fills the small space of my four door black hatchback car and I involuntarily let out a slight laugh. Not that I really watch the show, but my sister had me watch the episode of American Idol where Steven 'auditioned' in drag. That man is quite the hip grandma.
It takes me about forty-seven minutes to get down the secured part of the mountain and onto the part that's open to the general public, and from there another half hour or so to get onto a normal road and off the twisted mountain paths. I speed up about thirty miles once my tires hit the blacktop of the freeway and I accelerate another twenty once I merge all the way over into the farthest left lane. If it weren't for the really annoying whistling sound, I would definitely leave my driver's side window down on the freeway. I just let myself enjoy the atmosphere, until a commercial about some fucking auto insurance company interrupts the music and ruins it. My brows furrow together in irritation for the next ten minutes until Freddy Mercury saves the day. Luckily I pull of at my exit and get parked in front of I-Hop before I have to suffer through the next sting of annoying and useless ads. It's really not any surprise that when I walk into the restaurant I find that Isabel and Farlan have already gotten a table for us. The second she spots me my energetic, red-headed little sister practically leaps over the table towards me for a monster of a hug.
"Big bro!" She exclaims as she squeezes all the air out of my lungs, "You're finally here! It's been so long since I last saw you." As soon as she releases me from her death grip I saw with a soft smile,
"Izzy, we meet up for breakfast here every week."
"I know but it feels like so much longer." She pouts as she physically drags me to sit down in the booth between her and Farlan.
"We made sure to order you your usual." Farlan says as he slides an empty mug my way and pours still hot coffee into it. I'm glad the waiters and waitresses know to just leave the pot with us now. The three of us have been meeting here at this particular I-Hop for about four years now. It meant a lot to us for different reasons. For the two of them it was a chance to see me again after a few years of lost contact. For me it was a symbol that I had lived long enough in my hell of a life that I felt safe enough to take these kinds of risks; and that I had the luxury to do something like 'request time off.' But even more so than that; it gave me a sense of normality I hadn't been able to experience let alone enjoy since these cursed abilities woke within me a good decade ago.
"I'm kinda in a fruity mood." Isabel commented to herself as she read over the menu. I myself always get a short stack of buttermilk pancakes and a side of hash browns. Farlan tends to get some kind of omelet whereas Isabel goes through what our blonde friend and I refer to as 'food moods.' After letting out something that falls between the definition of a chuckle and a scoff said blonde friend Farlan says,
"Aren't you fruity enough already?" The amused expression on his face didn't falter as my feisty head headed sister game him a hard shove as her response to his retort. As he let out a small laugh Isabel ignored him and turned her attention to me.
"So you'll never guess what I got that jerk to agree to letting me get." Sipping on my coffee, I raised my eyebrow in exchange for asking 'what.' "A husky! She's so pretty big bro she has one brown and one blue eye. I know you're not big on dogs but my little Roe is so sweet and tame even though she's only five months. I mean Roe has only had one accident in the house otherwise she picked right up on potty training!" smiling slightly I said,
"I might have to visit your guys' place and meet the little girl then. You do realize how big she's going to get?" I directed the question more at Farlan than Isabel.
"Yeah- well we made a deal." He replied with a shrug. "If I let her get the dog she'd stop scaring off the girls I bring over." The two of them moved into an apartment as roommates right after high school. Not that they couldn't afford their own places now, neither one saw a reason to live by them self when being roommates saved money and worked great. In a world where I was normal like them I'm sure I'd be living there, too. It isn't much longer until our waitress comes back to take our orders. This day a week this early in the day there aren't many people out and about; the reason we meet this same day and time each week. Since there's only one other table of two ordering around the same time we do it takes only about ten or so minutes until all three of our orders are placed before us. We eat in a comfortable silence, taking the occasional break from savoring the flavorful breakfast to chat and catch up on the events of our past week. Both of them had found out about me being a Xixs upon reuniting. They had actually caught sight of me in the middle of a mission so naturally I felt it only right to come clean. Luckily they were both able to understand and accept it oddly well. I wouldn't change a thing about that day; even if I was drowning in hell at the time it led to a pretty good set up in the present. Honestly if it weren't for Isabel and Farlan I might not even be around to enjoy these pancakes right now. Just about as I'm about to take another bite of the fluffy, buttery goodness my cellphone goes off. I grimace at the ringtone, knowing who it is calling before I even touch the device.
"You better have a really good fucking reason for calling me on my reserved weekly off time, four-eyes." I grumble, irritated, immediately after picking up the call.
"I'm sorry you know I wouldn't bother you if it could at all be helped, but that Underworld elemental we've had on high alert for the past six months just started showing high activity downtown. The Boss wants us to take care of it before they get to either of our perspective newbies." After hearing them out I let out a sign through my nose. It really wasn't any surprise the big man didn't want either of our soon to be 'rookies' to be taken down. It was near impossible to find as strong of an Earth elemental as Jaeger seemed to be, and Arlert wasn't anyone to be sneezed at, either. That kid was seriously good at what he did, and it was hard to find people who could be just as useful off the field as on it. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I exhale before saying,
"Alright, fine. Send me the coordinates and I'll meet up with you in a few." As I shove the phone in my pocket after hanging up, Farlan offers,
"I can drive your car back to our place until you finish up so no one tows it or anything." I mutter a 'thanks' as I scoot my way out of the booth and head to the front exit of the restaurant. Once outside I check my phone and look at the coordinates Hange has sent me. I call up HQ and relay them to the same woman who's always there (seeing as creating these black holes is her ability) and walk into the rift as soon as it appears, stepping onto the top of some skyscraper as it closes behind me.
"Are they targeting someone or fabricating more beasts?" I question the brown haired person upon spotting them standing on the ledge in front of me. Hange is already in automatic form, in which they sport a long brown trench coat that's adorned with red embroidery on the sides of the sleeves, upper back, and the knees-down. Then they have form fitting red pants and ankle-high black combat boots.
"Right now it just looks like she's making more monsters. But for all we know she could've very well already set her sights on a target or two." Grimacing at the thought, I moved to stand next to the brown haired women. Nothing irritated me more than Underworld elementals who purposely settled in high-population eras to take out other Xixs like it was some kind of game, or as if they /had/ to. Sneering at the thought, I myself switch into my own automatic form. My pants become a sort of black knicker that end right below my knee and a pair of black boots that zip up both sides and are accented with blue trim around the top and the sides of the zippers. The toes and heels of the boots are the same blue color and the tube of the boots come up just about an inch or so higher than where my pants end. My top is a black sleeveless dress shirt with a standing collar and ruffles down the center beside the buttons and button holes. A blue leather jacket (same blue as that of the details on my boots) with black trim on the lapels with sleeves that are rolled up (the end in a neat black 'cuff') and black wrist length fingerless gloves that have blue lines running up to each knuckle finish the look off. I have absolutely no idea what determines a Xixs' appearance in automatic form, regardless I'd be lying if I didn't say I liked mine well enough.
"What's the plan?" I ask, scanning my eyes across the rooftops both level, above and below us.
"Rookie Jaeger is most certainly going to be intersected by the Underworld elemental in question; Boss man wants us to sit back and asses. We're only to intervene if absolutely necessary." Turning to face me they add, "Unfortunately I've had no way to set a link up with him yet, so I need you to go to the other side of town closer to where he lives and see if you can find him. If you do stay out of sight and tail him in case, you do need to intervene. I'll keep my link with you set up so I stay at least vaguely aware on the off chance things get WAY out of hand."
Eren
As I slide across the rough pavement of an old, unkempt alleyway, the uneven asphalt digs into my soft flesh and tares it up as my momentum slows. I push myself up off the ground with my arms before I can come to a complete stop and jump forward, grabbing the possessed person by the arm and purposefully landing on top of them. Just as I'm about to finish the job, the beast tears its way out of its victim and gets away before I can even hope to chase it. Letting out an exasperated sigh, I get up and change into manual form. Walking out of the alley I examine my side, my shirt will definitely be bled through, so I settle on throwing the old green sweater I always keep in my backpack on over it. Before I can do that I walk to the gas station by my school and get my backpack out of the bush I hid it in. After throwing on the sweater and heading the rest of the way to school I take a glance at my watch and see that I'm already twenty minutes late to first hour. Great, now I'm going to get detention. What a waste of time. I don't even bother sneaking into the school or into my classroom. My first period English teacher is in the middle of a lesson as I just walk right through the front door. She turns to look at me with a rather irritated looking expression on her face.
"Mr. Jaeger," she addresses me, pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger, "the school year is nearly over, finals are in two weeks. Can't you manage to be on time for what little there is of your senior year?" I just shrugged my shoulders in response and sat myself in my seat that was in the far left corner of the classroom. I only vaguely pay attention to the lesson, waiting for what's left of the class to come to an end. I let out a small sigh upon hearing the bell that signals the end of first period ring. I head to my second hour econ class quite literally tuning out and ignoring everyone that I pass by in the cramped hallways, as is usual for me. That class drones on in a blur of boredom and semi-awareness of what is actually going on. Honestly I have no idea how I manage passing grades in all my classes, I suppose you could say I'm thankful none the less, seeing as having to be held back or make up any failed classes would really be the biggest drag. My next few periods that buzzing feeling surging through my veins only gets more and more intense. I can tell that a storm is forming, and close to this area too. I try my best to hang on until lunch, that way if the fight is a bit more to handle than usual all I would miss would be study hall and prep hour. Naturally I am not so fortunate and right in the middle of third period calculous I make up an excuse about going to the nurse and get myself out of the classroom, walking as fast as I can without outright running I get myself out of that school building and start going towards where I can feel the storm forming. The skin on my arms is a nice bright shade of red from nervously itching them in class. As soon as I break into a full out sprint I feel my wounds that had only barely lightly started scabbing over crack right open. Just because I'm emotionally dead doesn't mean physical pain doesn't still get to me. I clench my jaw, gritting my molars together and choosing to only breathe in and out of my nose. I keep up my speed until the school has long since disappeared from sight; not allowing myself even a moment of rest as every single vein in my body surges and pulses. It's almost like tiny little lightning bolts are being carried all throughout my blood stream. Forcing my pace to speed up even more I don't have time to stop myself as someone, completely out of the blue, lands on the pavement in front of me as if the sky had plucked them down to the earth itself. Eyeing their rather elegantly detailed dark brown trench coat, I can tell that this person is my kind. Said stranger turns around to look at me, brown eyes framed with square glasses.
"Oh!" They exclaim, letting out a small whistle after momentarily dragging the vowel out. "Fancy meeting you here Eren."
"and you know me how?" I question, holding their gaze with my own aqua-marine one.
"I work for Scouting Allegiance; and I'm also one of the only friends of sir stumpy-and-angry who you met at your school fair-thingy!" I just continue staring at the enthusiastic- women? Man? Oh well not like it particularly matters one way or another. Now understanding the situation, I make my way to push past her to get to the storm, and feeling their hands take a firm grasp on my shoulders, well you can say I am a little surprised and a little more irritated.
"I have somewhere to be." I announce, jerking one shoulder forward in attempt to get the stranger to let go of me.
"Sorry hun no can do," they reply from behind me. "The big boss man has me under strict order to intervene if things get out of hand, and if you get any closer to that storm, well- let's just say things are going to go from zero to a hundred REAL fast." I grab the other brunette's hands and spin around to face them, the person letting out a small whimper of protest seeing as I just rotated their arms in what probably cannot be considered natural range of movement.
"I am not one of you." I put emphasis on every single word. "You can't hope to understand. No one but another Earth Elemental could possibly understand. The taller one searches my gaze for a quick moment, seeming to find /something/ a large sigh breezes through their lips.
"Eren, I am sorry but I really can't let you go. I will stop you by force if needed." Letting myself phase into automatic form, I bring my scarred hand to my lips and respond sternly,
"Alright. Just don't blame me if that stupid organization finds themselves down a member tonight."