Children often have nightmares. Regardless of how insignificant these terrors may seem to a parent or older sibling, they will keep the child up at night, sitting in their bed, too terrified to move. They will stare into the dark, and slowly fade back into awareness, or fall asleep, and forget about the nightmare completely.

Levi had suffered from night terrors like that since he was an infant; the slow, sinking feeling that settles in the pit of your stomach and forces your eyes to remain open wide in the darkness, denying any form of sleep, no matter how tired you are, was rather familiar to him. Levi knew this feeling better than anyone, which also meant that he knew just how to will it away and go back to sleep, and wake up in the safety of the sunlight once again.

This, however, was no nightmare. Levi could not will himself to sleep it off, and wake up back in his home, with his father alive, and his mother too. No amount of hot tea or gentle words could chase away these horrible black-toed monsters. They would continue to chase after him until his inevitable expiration, whether it be brought on by their hands or his own.

The vagabond sat there, in the darkness, light-headed and weary from the stress of it all, trembling like a leaf in a burst of cold wind. What was he supposed to do now? Should he get up and hide? The German soldier's presence was still clear to him by the heavy, polished footsteps that echoed through the floorboards, rattling his eardrums and making him shake a little harder. They'd found him. He was done for, and so were Petra and Auruo and—

He heard the front door creak open, and two sets of polished black footsteps exit the house. Petra bid them a cheerful German goodbye, and shut the door once again.

The silence that now blanketed the house was absolutely suffocating. Levi could hear his heart thump in his ears, blood rushing through his veins and blowing his pupils wide with terror, making his body shake and his mind reel. He had not heard all three soldiers leave the house, which meant that one was still lurking inside.

Suddenly the trapdoor swung open again, and Levi flung himself back against the cold brick wall, clambering up against it as though he were trying to push himself through and escape. The sheets on the bed were tangled with his legs and his feet, anchoring him, not allowing him to move. His chest heaved, his hands clammy and cold. His head swam, making him sway against the wall where he was pressed, his chest constricted so painfully that he doubled over with a small groan, clutching at it through the fabric of his grimy yellowed shirt, unable to catch his breath, unable to stand up straight, and he began to panic because he couldn't stand and he couldn't breathe and he was going to die

"—Calm down!" It was Petra's voice. "Breathe! Just breathe,"

Levi opened his mouth in a pained gasp, and slowly faded back into reality, gradually realizing that Petra was cradling him to her chest, gently threading her fingers through his hair in an effort to calm him down. It felt nice, he thought briefly, as he caught his breath against her shoulder, finally coming down from his little episode.

She was warm, and clean. His breathing was still shaky and rapid, and his heart felt as though it would burst through his chest, but he remained still and mostly coherent for a few more moments before an unfamiliar voice made him jolt in the redhead's arms and nearly vomit up what little acid remained in his stomach.

"Frau Bossard," A deep, German voice, from the top of the staircase. "Relais die Nachricht. Sagen sonst niemand. Ich werde zurückkehren." Levi did not understand what the man was saying, and his voice was commanding, intimidating, terrifying.

"… Ja." Petra replied with a small nod of her head, her grip on Levi tightening when she felt him shock against her. There was a moment of heavy silence that blanketed the room before the trapdoor shut again and the family of three was left in complete darkness.

None of them spoke for quite some time. The only sound that filled the room was Levi's labored breathing, until Petra opened her mouth to speak.

"Levi, that soldier is not going to hurt you," She said softly, trying to calm the poor man down. "He was inspecting the houses on this street because there was talk of an escaped Jew who fled to an alleyway near here—"

The man lifted his head, looking at the redhead in horror. "You mean—you mean they… they're looking for me? They know who I am?"

"Someone must have tipped them off."

"How did they know I was Jewish just from seeing me on the street?"

"With dark hair and eyes like that? Any German would make that assumption."

Levi scoffed. "So everyone that isn't blonde-haired and blue-eyed is a Jew. Hilarious."

"Anyway. That was a lieutenant in Hitler's Third Reich," Petra continued. "We don't know why, but he said he wants to help you escape. He said he's going to come back tomorrow."

"And you're just going to trust him right off the bat?"

"Don't you think he would have killed you right then and there if he wasn't sincere? They have strict shoot-on-sight orders for you. You're lucky it was him who found you here—"

"And how the hell do you know it's not a trap?" He wriggled out of her arms, stumbling back again. "How do you know?"

"I don't!" She cried. "But we've got no choice. If we run, they will definitely kill all of us, and we won't have a chance to find out if we could have survived or not."

"I don't believe him! Those bastards killed my family—they're killing my friends and loved ones as we speak, and you expect me to just blindly follow their orders?"

"Wouldn't you rather live believing in something and find out it isn't real than to live not believing and find out it is?"

Levi regarded her in the dim light, hesitant. Petra could see the terror behind his eyes. His chest was still heaving, his body shaking with uncertainty. He did not trust them. Not Petra, not Auruo, not the unnamed soldier. Levi was faced with a huge decision, but not an altogether difficult one. Either he remained with the Bossards, or he attempted to escape. As far as he could tell, either way, he was going to die.

"… I suppose so," he replied, his voice hoarse and timid, filled to the brim with trepidation.

Petra smiled warmly. "Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you." She reached out for him again, and let her hand rest gently against his cheek. "He ordered that we bathe you. Come. We'll explain the rest later."

Auruo lifted the man up into his arms, surprised when he met no resistance from him, and carried him up the steps, waiting there at the top until Petra had checked to make sure that no one would see them hurry to the second floor to fill the bath with water.

The next day, Petra brought Levi down a hefty slice of bread and a frankfurter, which she told him had been left by the soldier from the previous day. He thankfully gobbled down the food, deciding that if today was the day he was going to die, he should at least die with a full stomach.

"He says he will bring us all extra rations, at least once a week…" She began, her voice timid, almost hoarse. "We already have coffee, but he says he'll bring us sugar, and meat and good cheese and other things…"

"Medicine?" Levi interjected, watching as she pushed open the trapdoor and stuck her head out.

"Yes, of course," she replied. "I said we needed antibiotics, and he seemed hesitant, but when I told him they were for you…" her voice trailed off, and the redhead worried her lower lip between her teeth. "He told us that he recognized you. Do you have any idea who he is?"

Levi swallowed a mouthful of bread. "No, I've never seen him before…" The thought worried him. If this soldier simply mistook him for someone else, then he was fucked. He was so fucked. "Does he think I'm someone else?"

"He called you Levi," The Jew froze, staring at Petra with widened eyes. "And said that he knows you from a long, long time ago."

"… I don't know him."

"Well, he certainly knows you."

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation, and Levi no longer felt hungry as he heard the door swing open, and Auruo greet the soldier at the door.

"Guten tag, Erwin Sturmbannführer." His voice was low, and hesitant. There was no reply from the uninvited guest as he stepped inside. The door closed amidst whistles and hoots from his fellow soldiers outside.

"Close the curtains, please," The soldier said lowly, and was met with swift obedience from Auruo. Petra looked over at the Jew, and offered him her hand.

"Time to come up, now."

His heart leaped into his throat, but Levi took her hand, and waited for her to help hoist him up. He had to lean against her as they made their way up the stairs, and it took them several minutes to clear them. When they had finished, Levi was out of breath, and paler than usual, so Petra had him sit down on a chair by the basement while she fetched him a glass of water.

Levi still had his back to the soldier, who had been helping the husband close the shades in the kitchen. He was terrified to look at him. Terrified. He was shaking as he accepted the glass of cool water from Petra, and doubled over with exhaustion as he tried to lift it to his lips (Petra had to help him with that too). After he'd finished it, he abandoned the cup on the table by the couch, and took a deep breath as Petra hoisted him back up to bring him into the kitchen.

The front door opened again, and the noise sent a jolt of fear down Levi's spine. He looked to the door, expecting to see more soldiers there, rifles aimed and ready to fire. Instead, he saw Erwin, loosening his tie and hanging it over the handle of the front door, on the outside, as if to make sure that everyone outside knew he was inside the little house... More cheers and whistles came from his fellow soldiers as they passed by, and then the door was closed with an air of finality. Levi had not remembered actually making it to the kitchen, but there he was, struggling to sit down in a chair at the table.

"What was that about?" Auruo asked, and the soldier finally turned to properly face the trio in the kitchen, and Levi allowed his eyes to wander over him, to get a good look.

Blonde hair like spun gold, with eyes too bright to compare to ice or any kind of gemstone. His expression was stern, collected, as expected of any high-ranking soldier in Hitler's Third Reich, but there was a certain air of kindness or mercy hidden beneath his clever guise of discipline that gave Levi an odd sense of nostalgia.

With a sigh, the soldier tugged off his gloves and shook his head. "I will explain that later. We have more important matters to discuss." He turned to look at Levi, with an air of familiarity that made the Jew shrink back into the chair he was seated upon. It was obvious that this man recognized him. There was no mistaking it; this soldier knew exactly who Levi was. He wasn't confusing him for someone else.

"Forgive my impatience, but I have to make this façade realistic. I cannot stay long," He began again, striding over to Levi and kneeling down in front of him. The man flinched in his chair, and tried his best to scoot back, to keep himself away. It made him panic, to think about what this man might be doing to him, and he found himself wide-eyed with terror, trying once again to escape from his inescapable fate.

A gentle, cool hand was laid against his feverish skin, and for a moment he thought it was Petra's, until a deeper, more venerable voice yanked him back down to earth so hard it nearly gave him whiplash. "Levi."

In an instant, Levi's world stopped crashing down around him, and he stopped struggling as the soldier continued. "I will not hurt you. I need to look at your arm."

Still shaking, the man gave no permission, but did not attempt to struggle as Erwin took Levi's clammy, feverish hand in his own, and gently turned it over so that he could get a better look at the wound. It was still gaping, still festering, though it had improved just slightly. Erwin did not seemed phased by it, and instead reached into the satchel he had brought with him (which Levi hadn't noticed, somehow) and took out a large, German-issued medical kit, which took up nearly all of the room in the satchel. If anyone had known that Erwin had brought that here, they would find it immediately suspicious; but it was a risk he had to take in order to save Levi's life.

"Frau Bossard," Erwin glanced over at Petra, who stiffened immediately. "Please get me a towel. Make sure it is clean."

She nodded without a word and ran off somewhere in the unfamiliar house. Erwin popped open the top to the first-aid kit, and took out a small vial of rubbing alcohol. Auruo blinked a bit; it was a rare thing to see alcohol of any kind in a neighborhood such as the one they were currently in, especially alcohol for medical use. Levi was far too absorbed in the expression on Erwin's face to notice the burning skin of his arm as it was cleaned.

For a soldier, he was uncharacteristically gentle.

It took nearly ten minutes for Erwin to get the wound clean enough to even begin to work with; and by the time he had, Petra had returned with a towel, for which he thanked her. He stood for a brief moment to shed his overcoat, and unfasten his cufflinks, rolling his sleeves up well past his forearms before kneeling back down again, taking out a few instruments and setting them on the towel.

Levi was not entirely conscious for the entire procedure. The trek up the basement stairs had made him very weary, and so he fell asleep halfway through, and when he awoke, his arm was stitched up neatly, and (though still a bit pink) looked exponentially better than it had just an hour ago. He was sitting in the kitchen, alone, though as he faded back into consciousness he was aware of a low conversation in the hallway behind him.

"… continue to clean it. I'll leave this kit here, and I will return next week to look at him again."

"Danke, Erwin…" It was Petra's voice. "I don't know what to say."

"Don't thank me yet. I was only able to bring you extra ration cards today, but next week I will give you more…"

"Please. This is more than enough already."

"I have to go now."

"Yes, alright. I'll show you out."

"Thank you."

There were hushed footsteps, and then the door opened and closed again. For a moment, Levi thought he would be allowed to stay in the kitchen and sleep, but Petra hurried over to him, and tried to hoist him up from his seat. "Come on," She murmured. "Auruo's opening the windows."

A small groan of frustration left the man's lips, but he allowed the redhead to help him stand again, and help him get down the steps. She forced him to down another glass of water before she let him lay back on the cot. She'd changed the sheets earlier today, and so it was fresh and crisp and felt more comfortable than it had since the first day he'd been invited into their home. It took him less than five minutes to fall into the warm, welcoming clutches of sleep.

Levi remained unconscious for almost an entire day. Petra checked on him, nervously, whenever she could, making sure he was still breathing. It was nerve wracking, listening to his labored sighs fill the room, watching as the wound on his wrist continued to ooze. She cleaned it and redressed it every few hours, and hardly even noticed whether it was improving, not allowing herself to realize that it was ridiculous to expect a significant difference to occur within the span of eight hours.

She decided that perhaps it would be best to let the poor man rest for the day, and then come down and change his bandages again when she came to bring him dinner. It would most likely be best not to worry herself any longer. Besides, she shouldn't risk letting people on the outside of her home see her coming in and out of the cellar so often.

A small sigh left her lips as she reached out to brush a bit of damp black hair out of Levi's face, watching his emaciated chest rise and fall beneath the sheets that covered him, and then ascended the stairs again, shutting the cellar door behind her.