"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

"Eren! Calm dow-!"

"Nooo DON'T TOUCH ME DON' HURT 'E DAD PLEASE PLE' PLEASE DON'T DO-"

"EREN! CALM DOWN! It's me! No one else is here! No one is going to hurt you!"

"Nooooooooo...it hurts...sto..."

"You're okay, Eren. You're okay. You're with me. No one will hurt you."

Levi holds onto him tightly as Eren almost collapses to the ground. Setting him down slowly, Levi also bends down to kneel on the floor next to him. Really, he wants to close the curtain that was concealing the blood stained work bench and hand cuffs, but he has a feeling that he shouldn't leave Eren's side right now.

Eren's trembling hands are flopped weakly at his sides, as he mumbles uncontrollably to himself. Afraid that any longer may mean losing Eren, Levi reaches out and touches his cheek gently, looking into his lifeless eyes. At his touch, Eren twitches a little, and soon tears start flowing as his eyes regain a little focus.

"...….…evi..."

"Hmm?"

"C...C-Cor…poral Levi..."

"Eren..."

Levi notices that Eren's whole body has started shaking, but he simply continues to caress Eren's cheek, ear and neck. After a while Eren lifts his weak arms, and wraps them tightly around Levi's waist while continuing to cry. Levi gently hugs Eren's shoulders and head, and they remain like this for a few minutes.

"Corporal...thank you for bringing me here."

"Did you remember something after coming to your house's basement?"

"Yes...I've regained all my memories."

Memories...

"What happened?"

"...When I was 4, I got into an accident and was on the verge of dying. In an effort to save me, my father injected me with the blood of a Titan Shifter."

"A Titan Shifter's blood?! How on earth did he..."

"I believe...my father's ancestors were from the clan of Titan Shifters, and when they left, they brought with them blood samples and data about the Titan Shifters. My father studied those in hopes of finding a way to defeat the Titans, but when I was dying, he was so desperate...so he tried to save me using the regenerative powers of a Titan Shifter. It was successful and I survived, but my father was afraid that I would be treated as a monster if my powers were discovered. So he...he..."

"...Did he hurt you?"

As tears start dripping down Eren's face again, he nods in answer to Levi's question.

"...While crying. He cut me and burned me, and recorded the effects while apologising to me through tears. He made drugs, gave them to me, and broke my bones to see if the drugs made me seem 'human'. But when I healed within a day, he would hold onto me and cry again."

Levi, who was hugging Eren this whole time, grips his shoulders tightly, before letting go and pushing Eren back to look into his eyes.

"How long?"

"I think...about three months. He finally made a drug that could suppress my powers, and also one to make me forget my memories. Haha...no wonder...the earliest memory I could remember, was of my dad hugging me while trembling...trembling with relief and guilt…"

.

.

"I'd forgotten so much..."

"It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault that you forgot, and it wasn't your fault that your dad had to torment himself by hurting you."

"He loved me."

"Yeah, I'm sure he did."

Author's Note

Thank you for reading all the way up to this chapter!

For anyone this may apply to, if you found Chapter 6 confusing I have added a short and vague description at the end as an Author's Note. Hope it helps.