As Hanji had predicted, Levi and Erwin were furious that Imelda had snuck out; both had heard noises from the wood but neither had checked it out. They knew neither could see Imelda until training was over; they were getting ready for another mission outside the walls. Hanji was banging on about getting another titan or two for experimenting; though this wasn't the reason, it had been five years since the walls destruction and they had been fighting them back for all five of those years. Eld, who had broken his shoulder in a training accident, was put in charge of making sure Imelda didn't get out of bed and, quote from Levi, 'Do anything stupid'. For the most part Imelda was good, she sat in bed feeling sorry for herself and was rather delirious with everything going around her.
"So" Eld sighed looking up from his book on the sofa, "what were you doing last night? You barely ever get ill." Imelda coughed before answering hoarsely, "I wanted to practice my 3DM Gear training…ACHOO, turned out brilliantly as you can see….hey quit sniggering."
Eld let out a snort before covering his mouth fully with his right hand and muffled an apology. Glaring Imelda lay down and pulled the covers up over her head, mumbling about wanting to sleep. Eld let out another chuckle before yawning loudly,
"I think I'll join you in that, little one." and both closed their eyes, ready for sleep.
Erwin yawned loudly looking up from his formation plans and looked at the clock, 6:07pm. He'd been working for over 3 hours, he would still work for longer but Imelda had to explain herself for why she was out the night before. Getting up he headed for the door. Most of the corps was still outside training so it was quite as he headed for Imelda's room. Entering the room, he saw Eld reading his book, and Imelda silently sleeping in her bed.
"How is she?" Erwin asked and Eld jumped, dropping his book, "Commander" Eld try to stand but Erwin shook his head saying,
"Don't make your injuries worse Eld, has Imelda been alright?"
Eld nodded, relaxing a little, "In most cases yes, she drank plenty of tea, was quite talkative, but she didn't want to eat anything; she's been sleeping for two hours." Erwin nodded and headed back to the door, no need to wake her up, he had time. Looking at Eld he smiled kindly,
"You're dismissed Eld, thank you for watching her, I think we can leave her be."
The fellow blonde stood up, gave an awkward salute and left the room; Erwin looked back at Imelda who was still sleeping peacefully and kissed her forehead. The heat remained on his lips as he pulled back. Erwin felt so much pity the girl, granted he and all the other corps members had been through hell more than once; but she'd entered hell, and only now was she coming out again. Shaking his head he left the room, shutting the door behind him.
Why was it so dark, why could her body move, what was over her mouth? Suddenly a bright light flashed in front of her eyes; three people sat at a table, a girl, a woman, and a man. Realisation smashed into her like a cannon ball; no, no not this, anything but this. She tried to move but it was impossible, something was holding her back, but she didn't know what.
"Mama" the girl asked "are we going to pick flowers after lunch?"
"Yes" the woman smiled, and her mouth spoke a name, but Imelda couldn't hear it. The man smiled, ruffling the girl's hair. Then the image changed again and the girl was in a field of beautiful flowers, running and jumping, several blue ones clasped in her small fist. Her parents were nowhere to be seen, but she didn't seem to care. Then the small girl tripped, landing on her hand and knees.
Imelda's stomach jumped, she knew what was coming next, and she began to shake with fear, her hands coming to her ears; as a man in a long white coat appeared, almost out of nowhere.
"Are you lost, little one?" oh his voice was a smooth and calm as ever. Looking up the girls eyes shined with recognition and she smiled jumping up. "No, my family are just…" but looking around, the girl saw her family wasn't there. Imelda tried to yell, scream, plead for the girl not to follow the man in the white coat, but nothing came from her throat. The man took her hand and began to lead her away.
Mercilessly the memory ended there, but it wasn't the end of the dream. Where there had once been silence, the noise of screams and shouts crashed into her ear drums. People were surrounding her, pointing, spitting, swearing and cursing at her; calling her monster, telling her to die, throwing all their hatred and anger at her.
"Stop it" she whispered, covering her ears, shaking her head rapidly, "I'm not what you think I am, I'm not."
Suddenly, a sharp kick hit her side, making her gasp in pain, and then fists came raining down on her body, then swords and then fire. The pain was horrendous as she screamed at the top of her lungs. It stopped as quickly as it came and she opened her eyes. There was nothing, just darkness; but then she saw it. Levi and Erwin were facing her, looking down at her like she was filth. Why, why were they looking at her like that? What had she done to make that happen? Slowly, they began to turn away, leaving her alone in the dark.
"No…no, no NO PLEASE, PAPA DADDY, DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE, PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE ME!"
She sobbed desperately crawling forwards until a large, hairy hand wrapped its self around her middle, lifting her high into the black obis. Turning she saw a titan, though it was nothing like any titan she'd seen, it was almost, almost like a monkey she'd seen in a forbidden book. Without saying a thing, it opened its jaws and kicking and screaming; Imelda fell into is mouth.
With a yelp Imelda's eyes flew open, her whole body trembling and sweating with fear. Her breathing was ragged, tears were still cascading down her face and her hair stuck to her face and she could feel dampness beneath the sheets; she'd wet the bed again. But her head was spinning far too fast to even consider being embarrassed. Shakily she got up, her legs only just holding her body as she crept to her wash basin; she had to lower her body temperature or the slightest pin prick could send her into a killing frenzy. Imelda poured the water over her head and used the flannel to clean her sweat soaked skin. She then changed her clothes but didn't go back to bed; she couldn't, not just because she soiled them but also because she felt so twitchy that if she fell asleep…the nightmare would come back.
Levi shivered, his fingers digging into Erwin's night shirt, his toes curling. Erwin groaned, his own body twitching and shivering with every shallow breath.
"Erwin" Levi whispered shakily, pulling the larger man closer, if that was even possible, "it's fucking freezing."
Erwin simply nodded, as he pulled the blankets closer around the two of them, the winter air forbidding either to sleep. Levi was just about to call it a night and not bother with sleep; like it would make any difference to him anyway, when the door creaked open. Both men heard the noise and both tensed as footsteps came closer and closer to the bed.
"Daddy, papa? I-I had a bad dream" Imelda sniffed shakily, rubbing the tears out of her eyes, "I-I'm sorry I went out last night *sniff*, I j-just w-wanted you to be proud of me." She took in a ragged breath before continuing, "b-but, can I sleep with you tonight?"
Erwin and Levi glance at each other; they did love their daughter, but what she'd done was foolish. But her nightmares were far more realistic than other children's nightmares. So Levi let go of Erwin and scooted back a little so there was a gap in between them. In a split second Imelda was under the covers and clinging to her parents.
Must have been a horrible nightmare, Levi thought as he wrapped his arms around her, Erwin doing the same. But at least she was warm, and soon all three were asleep, happily content in each others arms.