Hey everyone!
I haven't updated this in a while, huh?
Oh well, here you go now!
And omg, Casey, how did you find this story? XD I'M NOT THAT GOOD, I SWEAR, SO YOU CAN STOP LOOKING ON MY FANFIC ACCOUNT NOW XDDDDDDDDD.
Jfc.
Anyway, on with thy storeh! :D
NOTE: Ehehehehe... my otp is making an appearance here. Please don't be mad. XD
Chapter 3: Piano in the Dark
You sighed. Today had been a very long day. First, the people here were hiding someone from you for some strange reason. Second, Rico, the person who warned you to stay away, died a gruesome death by a tree. And third, you had a really strong feeling that this mysterious person lived on the third floor, which was why you weren't allowed up there.
You tossed and turned on your bed, in your fuzzy pajamas you had packed with you. You had decided to begin unpacking after you got back to your room, even though someone had just died. You haven't finished yet; you were too tired to get through everything. Glancing out at the window, you felt your heavy eyelids close and sleep overcome you.
You didn't know how late it was when you opened your eyes again. All you knew was that it was still nighttime and that something had woke you. Straining your ears, you sat up and tried to hear what it was. And then you heard it.
A piano's soft lullaby was drifting to your ears.
You let your eyelids flutter closed as you listened to it. The melody was sweet and gentle, and you just wanted to drift away into the music and back to sleep. You shook your head and strained your eyes open. You had a feeling that the piano was being played by the mysterious person, and there was no way you were going to let this opportunity slip through your grasp.
You tip-toed over to the door and creaked it open, glancing down both ends of the hallway. No one was there. Opening the door further, you snuck out of your room and quietly headed towards the staircase that would lead up to the third floor, since the music seemed to be coming from up there. You wondered if this mysterious person had a piano in their room. Lucky.
You gave a mad dash up the stairs, the carpeted boards creaking under your weight. You made it safely up to the top, and did another quick glance around you, in case anyone heard you. It seemed no one did. Biting your lip, you wandered down the hall, listening for the right door to open. It probably wouldn't go well if you opened the wrong door. Who knows what's up here besides a piano and the strange person?
The music led you to two double doors towards the end of the main hall. Taking a deep breath and swallowing your fear, you quietly opened one of the doors and peered in, wondering what you were going to see.
You blinked in surprise. In the center of the room, which was filled with instruments, was a grand piano. There was a frail looking boy playing it, facing away from you. He had really pretty blonde hair. You briefly wondered what shampoo he used, but then shook the thought out of your head. Now was not the time. You listened to him play a beautiful melody on the piano for a moment before going and creeping closer to him. When you were a foot behind him, he suddenly stopped playing, as if he heard you.
The boy slowly turned his head until you saw his face. You both stared into each others' eyes, surprise in your face, expectancy in his. He was actually quite cute, judging by his rounded face and big blue eyes. He seemed to have an air of inquisitiveness about him, and you wondered if he was a bookworm. Finally, he gave you a small smile.
So this was the person everyone was hiding from you.
"Hello, _." the boy greeted, and you blinked.
"You know my name?" you asked. The boy nodded.
"Eren told me about you." he answered. You remembered Eren from the first day you came here.
"Oh... and you are?"
"Oh! Excuse me! Where are my manners?" he looked surprised, but then that knowing look came back onto his face. "My name is Armin. I've been waiting for you for quite some time now."
"You've been... waiting for me?"
"Yes, ever since Eren told me about you signing up to be the keeper of the manor. I haven't seen an outsider in so long."
"You've stayed here without going out at all?"
"Everyone has."
You stared at him for the longest time, and he chuckled softly.
"How long have you been here?" you finally asked.
"Ever since I can remember." he answered. He always had this look on him, as if he was one step ahead of you; like he knew exactly what you were going to say, and had a reply ready right before you said it. It kind of scared you, actually. You wondered if he could read your mind. You cleared your dry throat and spoke up again.
"So, why am I not allowed to see you?" Armin actually paused for a moment before responding. You wondered if Eren told him not to tell you.
"They want to isolate me." he finally answered. You gave him a quizzical look.
"Isolate you?" you asked. He nodded, seeming to pick his words carefully before answering again.
"They don't want outside ideas influencing me. They don't want me to leave this place."
"Why not?"
"I... can't say. Not yet. All I can tell you is that I am tied to this place and the people who live here."
"...Okay then."
"I know it doesn't make much sense, but it will in time, I promise."
"You have to pinky swear." he blinked in surprise and tilted his head in a questioning manner, which was pretty cute.
"A pinky swear?"
"Yeah. We twist pinkies together and swear that this'll all make sense later on, like you said." Armin seemed to go deep in thought after you said that, and you heard cracking in the walls again, which kind of creeped you out. First, the noises were in your room, and now in the instrument room. Maybe there really were rats.
Armin was still in his trance, and the noises were only getting louder. You clapped once, and he blinked, snapping out of it. The noises stopped immediately as well. You wondered if Armin was tied to these noises. You decided to not let him daydream again, if you were ever around him another time.
"Yeah, let's pinky swear." he said, and both of you pinky swore. Armin's hand was really, really warm. You just wanted to embrace him and feel more of his warmth. Even though he looked frail, he felt even more alive than you did. Armin seemed to notice your reaction to his skin and he gave you a smile.
"One of the perks to being connected to everything." he stated simply. You nodded, pretending to know what he was talking about, and he stood up.
"_, I have to show you something. Follow me." he said, and before you could answer, he took your hand and led you out. Once again, you were shocked by how warm and comforting his skin was. The warmth was slowly spreading through your body, and you basically didn't care where he led you, you just wanted to feel more of this warmth.
After leading you down several corridors, Armin went to another set of double doors in the middle of the hallway. He glanced around before opening the door and letting you inside. He closed the door behind him and let go of your hand, the warm feeling slowly fading away. You blinked and looked around, in a large bedroom of some sort.
It was way larger than your room, but you weren't that surprised. The main theme of it seemed to be blue. The canopy bed was in the center against the left wall, which was dark blue. The bed itself was a light blue and it seemed very comfy. Against the far wall was those French double doors you saw earlier. There was several bookshelves crammed with books and a shuttered closet on the opposite wall of the bed. Armin watched you take it all in.
"I hope it's clean enough for you." Armin said. You looked over at him.
"It's so neat!"
"Well, Levi kinda rubbed off on me." he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. You nodded, knowing how much of a clean freak Levi was. You were surprised Levi wasn't the cleaner. You guessed he had better things to do with his time and he was tired of the manor getting dusty.
"So, you like books, huh?" you asked, making conversation. Armin nodded.
"Yeah! I especially love the one about the world."
"Why don't you travel the world, then? Experience the sights yourself?" Armin froze, then looked away.
"I told you, I can't leave. This is what they were talking about when they said I can't see you. You'd put ideas into my head and then I'd want to leave. That can't happen." he explained, looking sad. You frowned.
"I'm sorry, Armin. You really want to see what's out there, huh?" you asked.
"Yeah..." he straightened up. "But I can't. My place is here, where I belong."
"But don't you want to see everything? The planes, grassy hills, sandy desert dunes, snow capped mountains, the ocean.." Armin's breath hitched when you brought up the ocean.
"I told you, I can't lea-" he froze, looking like he heard something. You strained your ears, but all you could hear was cracking in the walls. You grew slightly afraid. What was Armin thinking? He quickly grabbed your hand and rushed you over to the closet.
"What's going on?" you asked. He shushed you and pushed you into the walk-in closet, closing the door behind you.
"Someone's coming. Don't make a noise." he hissed through the door, before quickly walking away from the closet and sitting on the bed. You quietly moved so that you could see out the shutters. The door burst open.
"Armin? I thought I heard talking." you blinked. It was Eren. Armin smiled at the brunette.
"No, it was just me. I talk to myself sometimes." covered Armin. Eren frowned and closed the door behind him, walking over to Armin and sitting down next to him.
"Aw, I'm sorry, Armin. I'm not giving you enough attention, am I?" Eren asked. Armin quickly shook his head.
"No, no! I understand why you're away. Besides, the third floor has all the interesting rooms, after all." Armin told him. Eren nodded, not seeming convinced.
"I'm sorry you can't explore the full manor like before. It's just that I don't want to lose you." Eren apologized. You were majorly confused right now.
"Eren, you won't lose me-"
"No, Armin, I will. I've met this outsider, remember? Her head is full of outside ideas; ideas that shouldn't go into your pretty little head and corrupt your brain." Eren cut him off, ruffling Armin's hair. Armin looked down, and then Eren's face turned serious.
"Did you do it on purpose?" he asked. Armin's eyes widened and he looked up at Eren. You wondered what he was talking about.
"No! It just acted up on it's own and I couldn't control it this time! I'm sorry, I'll try to retain it better next time." Armin said, sounding regretful.
"Don't blame yourself. It has a life of its own, too, you know." Eren told him. Armin nodded, and Eren hugged him with one arm, kissing his forehead. Armin laid his head against Eren's chest, closing his eyes, and Eren's eyes lowered, looking slightly dangerous. You suddenly grew fearful for Armin.
Eren moved his head so that his lips met Armin's neck. Armin's eye's flew open and he pushed away from Eren, who looked slightly surprised.
"Eren, I-no, just no." Armin said. Eren looked confused.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Armin shook his head.
"Not tonight, Eren. I don't... feel like it."
"I'm sorry, I just... It's that time again. I'm starting to get really edgy." Wait, time for what? You didn't think it was exactly what it looked like, but what else could it be? Was this the 'fucked up' relationship Jean was talking about?
Armin looked understanding. "I know, Eren, I know. Just... give me until the morning, okay?"
Eren groaned. "You know I sleep in late!"
"Fine! When you wake up, then." Armin said, giggling slightly. Eren couldn't help but smile when Armin laughed, and he kissed the blonde's nose and stood up.
"I'll be back. Goodnight, Armin." he mumbled before walking to the door. Armin laid down on the bed.
"Goodnight, Eren." he responded, and Eren was gone. You immediately opened the door, and Armin looked over at you.
"I saw all of that, by the way." you told him, and a light blush dashed across his cheeks.
"Sorry about that." he said, and you shrugged.
"So, you're dating Eren?"
"Yes."
"And back there, you were going to..."
"Not like that! It's... different."
"Oh... how so?"
"That's a secret."
"Is it kinky?"
"I don't think so..."
"You sound unsure."
"How would I know what's kinky or not?"
"I dunno, don't you read any romance or trashy novels or something?"
"Not in a while."
"So you admit to reading them?"
Armin chucked a pillow at you. "Get outta here!"
"Hey, hey! I'm sorry! Jesus." you apologized, grinning. He smiled back and sat up. You handed him the pillow.
"Besides, you gotta go before someone finds out you're not in your bedroom, anyway."
"How would anyone know?"
Armin then grinned and put a finger to his lips. "The walls have ears."
You felt kind of creeped out again, but you ignored it. This manor was just too weird for your own good. Armin dropped the hand from his face and laid back down on the bed. "Head back to your room, _, and have a safe sleep."
"Uh... okay. You too, Blondie." Armin raised his eyebrows at the nickname and you shrugged, waving him off. You headed to the door and left Armin's room, closing the door softly behind you. You glanced in either direction of the corridor before heading back. It would be horrible to be caught now. You might be fired, or worse. Hey, you never knew with this kind of place.
You headed downstairs, but then you heard voices coming from the second floor, so you hid on the staircase, listening in.
"I'm kinda worried about the outsider." a hesitant male voice said, and you froze, biting your lip.
"Why? She knows she's not allowed to be on the third floor." another voice, this one confident, replied.
"I know, but... she seems pretty curious about the manor. And she did find Rico's corpse."
"Eh, I guess. But we'll be able to smell if she's been up there."
"Yeah, but what if Armin's covering it up?"
"Now why would he do that? He follows the rules even more than you do."
"Well, he's curious about her, isn't he?"
"I still don't think he would personally go down to the second floor and to her room."
"No, we'd be able to smell him moving immediately. What I'm saying is that she could go up there and stumble across him."
"Yeah, but we'll keep a close eye on her. Besides, we have another pressing matter to attend to."
"I know... poor Armin, I don't think he can control it as well as he used to."
"Yep. The more wild, the more uncontrollable."
"Do you think we'll have to...?"
"No, not again. Besides, Eren wouldn't let us."
"...I'm just saying that we need to be prepared for the worst."
"I agree with ya, but we don't need to worry about all of this now." the confident voice discarded the other's worries and yawned.
"Man, I haven't had my fix in a while." he said after he yawned.
"You should hurry. It'd be horrible to go through withdrawals."
"Yeah, yeah. I remember. C'mon, let's go to bed. I can do that in the morning."
And with that, you heard the two walk down the hall, their footsteps sounding farther and farther away until they were gone. You chewed your lip, processing all this new information. You wondered just how much complicated stuff was going on, just beneath the surface of this quaint manor. You knew that Armin had something that he couldn't control, people needed their 'fix,' and that this out of control stuff had happened before. You had a feeling that this 'fix' thing wasn't actually drugs. None of the people here seemed like druggies to you, anyway.
After waiting a few more minutes to make sure they were gone, you crept down the rest of the stairs and headed back to your room. Thankfully, the rest of the trip was uneventful. You really had enough of this for one night.
You opened the door to your room and closed it behind you, locking it. You went over to the window and made sure that was also locked before flopping onto your bed, the latest events replaying over and over inside your head. Just what exactly was Armin connected to? He seemed to be the center of it all.
You sighed and pulled the blankets around you, craving more warmth, and you closed your eyes, sleep taking you almost instantly.
Apologies once again about my otp.
I love Eremin so much it's unhealthy.
Whelp, you met Armin! And some mysterious things are happening! Turns out things are more complicated than they seem...
Anyway, sorry it took me so long to upload this, but now I'm back and ready to write! :D
See you guys next update! (and thanks for dealing with my eremin. :P)